Henri Victor Marie Ghislain, Count Carton de Wiart (31 January 1869 - 6 May 1951) was the 23rd Prime Minister of Belgium from 20 November 1920 to 6 May 1921. He was from an aristocratic family.

Born in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, Carton de Wiart studied law and became a lawyer. He was elected to the Belgian House of Representatives as a left wing Catholic Party member in 1896. He remained a Member of Parliament until his death in 1951.

Besides serving as prime minister from 1920 to 1921 in a government of national union (Christian-democrats, liberals and socialists), he served as minister of justice from 1911 to 1918, as Belgian delegate to the League of Nations

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

 from 1928 to 1935, and as minister of social welfare from 1932 to 1934. After the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940, Carton de Wiart accompanied the Belgian government into exile in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

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Having been given the honorific title of Minister of State, Carton de Wiart again served as minister of justice for a short time in 1950.

Carton de Wiart was a cousin of the famous British general, Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart

Adrian Carton de Wiart

Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO , was a British officer of Belgian and Irish descent...

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