Charles Welter - Misplaced Pages

Dutch politician and diplomat

Charles Welter
Charles Welter in 1926

Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives
In office 27 July 1948 – 28 May 1956
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Office discontinued
Parliamentary group	Catholic National Party
Leader and chairman of the Catholic National Party
In office 11 December 1948 – 28 May 1956
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Office discontinued
Member of the Senate
In office 20 November 1945 – 24 July 1946
Minister of Finance
In office 3 September 1940 – 27 July 1941
Prime Minister	Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy
Preceded by	Dirk Jan de Geer
Succeeded by	Max Steenberghe
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 27 July 1948 – 5 June 1963
In office 8 June 1937 – 28 June 1937
Minister of Colonial Affairs
In office 10 August 1939 – 17 November 1941
Prime Minister	Dirk Jan de Geer (1939–1940) Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy (1940–1941)
Preceded by	Cornelis van den Bussche
Succeeded by	Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy
In office 24 June 1937 – 25 July 1939
Prime Minister	Hendrikus Colijn
Preceded by	Hendrikus Colijn
Succeeded by	Cornelis van den Bussche
In office 1 October 1925 – 8 March 1926
Prime Minister	Hendrikus Colijn
Preceded by	Hendrikus Colijn (ad interim)
Succeeded by	Jacob Koningsberger

Personal details
Born	Charles Joseph Ignace Marie Welter (1880-04-06)6 April 1880 The Hague, Netherlands
Died	28 March 1972(1972-03-28) (aged 91) The Hague, Netherlands
Political party	Catholic People's Party (from 1956)
Other political affiliations	Catholic National Party (1948–1956) Catholic People's Party (1945–1947) Roman Catholic State Party (1926–1945) General League (until 1926)
Spouse	Geertruida Burger (m. 1921)
Children	4 daughters and 2 sons
Alma mater	Delft Polytechnic School (Bachelor of Letters)

Charles Joseph Ignace Marie Welter (6 April 1880 – 28 March 1972) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of the General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses, later the Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP), the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and founder of Catholic National Party (KNP) before rejoining the Catholic People's Party and nonprofit director.

Biography

Welter worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of the Interior from July 1901 until October 1902 and for the Ministry of Colonial Affairs in the Kedu Residency and Pekalongan in the Dutch East Indies from October 1902 until April 1908 and in Batavia from April 1908 until May 1911. Welter moved back to the Netherlands and worked for the Ministry of Colonial Affairs in The Hague from May 1911 until November 1915 and returned to the Dutch East Indies working for the Ministry of Colonial Affairs in Batavia from November 1915 until October 1925.

After the 1925 general election, Welter was appointed Minister of Colonial Affairs in the first Colijn cabinet, taking office on 1 October 1925. The cabinet fell just three months later on 11 November 1925 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the cabinet formation of 1926 resulted in the formation of the first De Geer cabinet on 8 March 1926, in which Welters was not given a cabinet post. In March 1926 Welters was nominated as a member of the Council of the Indies, serving from 30 March 1926 until 30 March 1931. Welter semi-retired from active politic and became active in the public sector served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Cadastre Agency, Statistics Netherlands and the Welter Commission) and as a diplomat and lobbyist for several economic delegations on behalf of the government. Welter was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1937 general election, taking office on 8 June 1937. Following the cabinet formation of 1937 Welter returned to his position as Minister of Colonial Affairs in the fourth Colijn cabinet, taking office on 24 June 1937. The cabinet fell on 29 June 1939 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the first cabinet formation of 1939, with Welters not given a cabinet post in the new fifth Colijn cabinet, which took office on 25 July 1939. On 25 July 1939, just three days later, the cabinet was dismissed by Queen Wilhelmina and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the second cabinet formation of 1939 when it was replaced by the second De Geer cabinet with Welter appointed as Minister of Colonial Affairs again, taking office on 10 August 1939.

Upon the German invasion of the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, the government fled to London to escape the German occupation. The second De Geer cabinet fell on 26 August 1940 after a conflict between Queen Wilhelmina and Prime Minister Dirk Jan de Geer and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the cabinet formation of 1940, when it was replaced by the first Gerbrandy cabinet, with Welter continuing as Minister of Colonial Affairs and appointed as Minister of Finance, dual serving in both positions, taking office on 3 September 1940. The cabinet fell on 12 June 1941 after a conflict between Queen Wilhelmina and Minister of Defence Adriaan Dijxhoorn and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the cabinet formation of 1941 when it was replaced by the second Gerbrandy cabinet, with Welter continuing as of Minister of Colonial Affairs, taking office on 27 July 1941. On 17 November 1941 Welter and Minister of Finance and Minister of Commerce, Industry and Shipping Max Steenberghe resigned after disagreeing with the cabinet's war policies.

Returning to the Netherlands in 1945, Welter was appointed to the Senate for the newly founded Catholic People's Party. In March 1946, he was a member of the parliamentary committee of inquiry into the policy of the Dutch East Indies government. He disagreed strongly with the government policy on the Dutch Indies, as well as his party's cooperation with the Labour Party.

From the beginning of 1947, the Provisional Catholic Committee of Action acted within the KVP against the Indonesian policy of the Roman/Red coalition. In 1948, this committee took part in the general election with a separate Welter list, winning a single seat. On 11 December 1948 the Catholic National Party (KNP) was established. Welter, who occupied the only seat in parliament, also became the first general chairman of the KNP.

After the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia, this KNP initially seemed to still have a reason to exist, especially as a right-wing opposition party, not only with regard to the lasting problems in relations with Indonesia, but also in opposition to the trade union influence within the Catholic People's Party. In 1952, the KNP won 2.7% of the vote and two seats in the House of Representatives. On 29 October 1955, under pressure from the bishops, the KNP merged back into the Catholic People's Party. When the Drees cabinet fell at the end of 1958, Welter's last complaint against the KVP also disappeared, because years of cooperation with the social democrats came to an end.

Welter remained as a Member of Parliament for the KVP from 1956 to 1963.

Decorations

Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date
Honours
	Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion	Netherlands	13 August 1923
	Grand Officer of the Order of Oranje-Nassau	Netherlands	16 May 1933

References

^ "Welter, Charles Joseph Ignace Marie (1880-1972)" (in Dutch). Huygens ING. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2019.

External links

Official

(in Dutch) Ch.J.I.M. Welter (KVP) Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal

Party political offices
New political party	Leader and chairman of the Catholic National Party 1948–1956	Party disestablished
New political party	Parliamentary leader of the Catholic National Party in the House of Representatives 1948–1956	Party disestablished
Political offices
Preceded byHendrikus Colijn Ad interim	Minister of Colonial Affairs 1925–1926 1937–1939 1939–1941	Succeeded byJacob Koningsberger
Preceded byHendrikus Colijn		Succeeded byCornelis van den Bussche
Preceded byCornelis van den Bussche		Succeeded byPieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy
Preceded byDirk Jan de Geer	Minister of Finance 1940–1941	Succeeded byMax Steenberghe
Records
Preceded bySimon de Vries	Oldest living former cabinet member 27 September 1961 – 28 March 1972	Succeeded byLaurentius Nicolaas Deckers

v t e Ministers of finance of the Netherlands
Ministry of Finance
Schimmelpenninck Van Bosse Ossewaarde Van Bosse Van Doorn Van Hall Vrolik Van Bosse Schimmelpenninck van Nijenhuis Van Bosse Blussé van Oud-Alblas Van Delden Van der Heim Gleichman Vissering Van Lynden van Sandenburg Grobbée Bloem Godin de Beaufort Pierson Sprenger van Eyk Pierson Van Tecklenburg De Meester Kolkman Bertling Treub Van Gijn Treub De Vries De Geer Colijn De Geer Oud De Wilde Colijn Bodenhausen De Geer Welter Steenberghe Albarda Van den Broek Huysmans Lieftinck Drees Van de Kieft Hofstra Zijlstra Witteveen Vondeling Zijlstra Witteveen Nelissen Duisenberg Andriessen Van Aardenne Van der Stee Ruding Kok Zalm Wijers Zalm Hoogervorst Zalm Bos De Jager Dijsselbloem Hoekstra Kaag Van Weyenberg Heinen

v t e Ministers of colonial affairs of the Netherlands
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
Van der Heim Cambier Van der Heim Van der Capellen Van der Hoop Goldberg Falck Elout Van Ufford Van Gobbelschroy Clifford Brocx Van den Bosch Baud Rijk Baud Van den Bosch Pahud Mijer Rochussen Lotsy De Groot van Kraaijenburg Uhlenbeck Betz Fransen van de Putte Mijer Trakranen Hasselman De Waal Brocx Van Bosse Fransen van de Putte Van Goltstein van Oldenaller Alting Mees Van Bosse Van Rees Van Goltstein van Oldenaller De Brauw Van Erp Taalman Kip Van Bloemen Waanders Weitzel Sprenger van Eyk Keuchenius Mackay Van Dedem Bergsma Cremer Van Asch van Wijck Bergansius Idenburg Fock Heemskerk Idenburg De Waal Malefijt Pleyte Rambonnet Pleyte Idenburg Ruijs de Beerenbrouck De Graaff Colijn Welter Koningsberger De Graaff Colijn Welter Van den Bussche Welter Gerbrandy Van Mook Schmutzer Logemann Jonkman Sassen Van Maarseveen Drees Peters Kernkamp Staf Helders Korthals

v t e Second Gerbrandy cabinet (1941–1945)
Preceded: First Gerbrandy cabinet Succeed: Third Gerbrandy cabinet
Prime Minister	Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy (General Warfare)
Ministers	Hendrik van Boeijen (General Affairs) Hendrik van Boeijen (Interior) (1941–1944) Jaap Burger (Interior) (1944–1945) Hendrik van Boeijen (Interior) (from 1945) (Ad interim) Eelco van Kleffens (Foreign Affairs) Max Steenberghe (Finance) (1941) Willem Albarda (Finance) (1941–1942) Johannes van den Broek (Finance) (from 1942) Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy (Justice) (1941–1942) Jan van Angeren (Justice) (1942–1944) Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart (Justice) (from 1944) Max Steenberghe (Commerce, Industry and Shipping) (1941) Jan van den Tempel (Commerce, Industry and Shipping) (1941–1942) (Ad interim) Piet Kerstens (Commerce, Industry and Shipping) (1942–1944) Johannes van den Broek (Commerce, Industry and Agriculture) (from 1944) Hendrik van Boeijen (War) (1941–1942) Otto van Lidth de Jeude (War) (from 1942) Johan Furstner (Navy) Jan van den Tempel (Social Affairs) Gerrit Bolkestein (Education, Arts and Sciences) Willem Albarda (Water Management) Max Steenberghe (Agriculture and Fisheries) (1941) Jan van den Tempel (Agriculture and Fisheries) (1941–1942) (Ad interim) Piet Kerstens (Agriculture and Fisheries) (1942–1944) Jim de Booy (Shipping and Fisheries) (from 1944) Charles Welter (Colonial Affairs) (1941) Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy (Colonial Affairs) (1941–1942) Huib van Mook (Colonial Affairs) (from 1942)
Ministers without portfolio	Jaap Burger (Return Policy) (1943–1944) Edgar Michiels van Verduynen (Foreign Policy) (from 1942) Adipati Soejono (Colonial Policy) (1942–1943) (†)

v t e First Gerbrandy cabinet (1940–1941)
Preceded: Second De Geer cabinet Succeed: Second Gerbrandy cabinet
Prime Minister	Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy (Justice)
Ministers	Hendrik van Boeijen (General Affairs and Interior) Eelco van Kleffens (Foreign Affairs) Charles Welter (Finance and Colonial Affairs) Max Steenberghe (Commerce, Industry and Shipping) Adriaan Dijxhoorn (Defence) (1940–1941) Hendrik van Boeijen (Defence) (from 1941) (Ad interim) Jan van den Tempel (Social Affairs) Gerrit Bolkestein (Education, Arts and Sciences) Willem Albarda (Water Management) Aat van Rhijn (Agriculture and Fisheries) (1940–1941) Max Steenberghe (Agriculture and Fisheries) (from 1941)

v t e Second De Geer cabinet (1939–1940)
Preceded: Fifth Colijn cabinet Succeed: First Gerbrandy cabinet
Prime Minister	Dirk Jan de Geer (General Affairs and Finance)
Ministers	Hendrik van Boeijen (Interior) Eelco van Kleffens (Foreign Affairs) Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy (Justice) Max Steenberghe (Economic Affairs) (1939–1940) Max Steenberghe (Commerce, Industry and Shipping) (from 1940) Adriaan Dijxhoorn (Defence) Jan van den Tempel (Social Affairs) Gerrit Bolkestein (Education, Arts and Sciences) Willem Albarda (Water Management) Aat van Rhijn (Agriculture and Fisheries) Charles Welter (Colonial Affairs)

v t e Fourth Colijn cabinet (1937–1939)
Preceded: Third Colijn cabinet Succeed: Fifth Colijn cabinet
Prime Minister	Hendrikus Colijn (General Affairs)
Ministers	Hendrik van Boeijen (Interior) Hendrikus Colijn (Foreign Affairs) (Ad interim) Jacob Adriaan Patijn (Foreign Affairs) (from 1937) Jacob Adriaan de Wilde (Finance) (1937–1939) Hendrikus Colijn (Finance) (from 1939) (Ad interim) Carel Goseling (Justice) Max Steenberghe (Commerce, Industry and Shipping) (1937) Max Steenberghe (Economic Affairs and Agriculture and Fisheries) (from 1937) Jannes van Dijk (Defence) Carl Romme (Social Affairs) Jan Rudolph Slotemaker de Bruïne (Education, Arts and Sciences) Johan van Buuren (Water Management) Charles Welter (Colonial Affairs)

v t e First Colijn cabinet (1925–1926)
Preceded: Second Ruijs de Beerenbrouck cabinet Succeed: First De Geer cabinet
Prime Minister	Hendrikus Colijn (Finance)
Ministers	Dirk Jan de Geer (Interior and Agriculture) Herman van Karnebeek (Foreign Affairs) (1926–1927) Jan Schokking (Justice) Dionysius Koolen (Labour, Commerce and Industry Johan Lambooij (War and Navy) Victor Henri Rutgers (Education, Arts and Sciences) Max Bongaerts (Water Management) Hendrikus Colijn (Colonial Affairs) (1925) (Ad interim) Charles Welter (Colonial Affairs) (from 1925)

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