1899 in Belgium

Incumbents

• Monarch: Leopold II
• Prime Minister: Paul de Smet de Naeyer ; Jules Vandenpeereboom ; Paul de Smet de Naeyer

Events

• 24 January – Unable to broker a coherent government policy on demands for proportional representation, Paul de Smet de Naeyer hands over the premiership to his colleague Jules Vandenpeereboom
• 14 February – Belgian Antarctic Expedition research vessel Belgica freed from Antarctic ice.
• 28–30 June – Violent protests in Brussels demanding introduction of universal manhood suffrage with proportional representation.
• 29 July – Belgium among the 26 signatories to the Hague Convention
• 31 July – Jules Vandenpeereboom offers his resignation as prime minister due to the failure of his government to pass its proposed legislation for proportional representation.
• 23 October – Thomas Louis Heylen succeeds Jean-Baptiste Decrolière as bishop of Liège
• 5 November – Belgian Antarctic Expedition arrives back in Antwerp on board research ship Belgica
• 24 November – Bill introducing proportional representation on the D'Hondt method passed in the lower house by 70 votes to 63 with 8 abstentions.
• 3 December – Antoon Stillemans, bishop of Ghent, suspends Adolf Daens as a diocesan priest due to his political activism for the Christene Volkspartij.
• 30 December – Act introducing proportional representation published as law.

Publications

• Stephane Mallarmé, Poésies
• Pol de Mont, Poètes belges d’expression française
• Max Rooses, Het schildersboek: Nederlandsche schilders der negentiende eeuw, vol. 3.
• Stijn Streuvels, Lenteleven
• Édouard van den Corput, Utilité des embellissements de Bruxelles: Nécessité de l'agrandissement territorial de la capital de la Belgique
• Emile Vandervelde, L'Alcoolisme et les conditions de travail en Belgique
• Émile Verhaeren, Les visages de la vie
• Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Histoires souveraines, with ornaments by Théo van Rysselberghe

Art and architecture

• Victor Horta, Maison du Peuple, Brussels
• Paul Saintenoy, Old England (department store), Brussels

• Constantin Meunier, ''The Horse at the Pond''

Births

• 25 January – Paul-Henri Spaak, statesman
• 21 February – Clara Clairbert, soprano
• 28 February – Jacqueline Dyris, actress
• 20 March – Albert-Émile de Beauffort, colonial administrator
• 17 April – Gérard Debaets, cyclist
• 12 May – Maurice Carême, poet
• 17 May – Paul Ooghe, soldier
• 24 May – Henri Michaux, writer
• 21 June – Jean Hénault, athlete
• 30 June – Jean-Marie Plum, composer
• 22 July – Elisabeth van der Noot d'Assche, aristocrat
• 24 August – Albert Claude, Nobel Prize-winning biologist
• 29 September – Gaspard Lemaire, Olympic swimmer
• 20 October – Marnix Gijsen, writer
• 3 November – Julien Vervaecke, cyclist
• 8 November – Ernest Adam, politician
• 15 November – Auguste Pelsmaeker, footballer
• 20 December – Emile Brichard, cyclist
• 31 December – Richard Declerck, politician

Deaths

• 17 January – Camille Everardi, baritone and voice teacher
• 1 March – Abraham Mayer, physician
• 12 March – Edmond De Schampheleer, artist
• 1 April – Clara de Hirsch, businesswoman
• 28 May – Charles Piot, archivist
• 14 July – Charles-Joseph de Harlez de Deulin, Orientalist
• 27 August – Emmanuel Hiel, writer
• 4 September – Théodore Baron, painter
• 6 September – Jean Baptiste Carnoy, priest-scientist
• 27 November – Guido Gezelle, priest-poet
• 27 December – Henri Evenepoel, artist