Emmanuel Servais

Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1867 1874

Lambert Joseph Emmanuel Servais (lɑ̃bɛʁ ʒozɛf emanɥɛl sɛʁvɛ; 11 April 1811 – 17 June 1890) was a Luxembourgish politician. He held numerous offices of national importance, foremost amongst which was in serving as the fifth prime minister of Luxembourg, for seven years, from 3 December 1867 until 26 December 1874. After being Prime Minister, he was a long serving Mayor of Luxembourg City, holding office from soon after his departure from the premiership, in 1875, until his death, in 1890. Servais was also successively President of the Council of State (1874–1887) and President of the Chamber of Deputies (1887–1890). No other person has held even three of these four positions.

Servais was educated at the Athénée de Luxembourg, where he excelled academically, finishing top of his class in both of his final years at the school. After leaving the Athénée, in 1828, he studied law at the University of Ghent. However, he was forced to leave in after one year, in 1830, by the upheaval caused by the Belgian Revolution. Servais used the paper to promote his political interests, particularly improving transport links, an example of which was the construction of a permanent roadway between Ettelbruck and Bastogne. The Treaty awarded two thirds of the grand duchy to Belgium, separating Mersch from Arlon and Bastogne, and hence dividing in two Servais's backyard and the Echo's core constituency. However, Servais' efforts were in vain, as the Treaty was accepted by both the Chamber of Representatives and Senate. Servais remained in the (diminished) grand duchy, being called to the bar in August 1839. For his work on doing so, he was awarded the rank of Commander in the Order of the Oak Crown. Under the new arrangement, power passed to the Assembly of State, which held its first session in 1842. Once again, Servais represented Mersch, along with Théodore Pescatore and Claude Clément. Similarly, when the issue of secondary education was discussed, Servais argued that the Concordat of 1801 and Organic Articles were annulled by the Belgian Constitution of 1831, and so the Luxembourgian government was under no obligation to the Catholic Church.

Servais married his cousin, Anne Justine Elisa Boch (1819–1860) on 16 November 1841. Through the Bochs, and Anne's mother's family (the Richards), Servais was marrying into a political web that also included the Thilges, Pescatore, Northomb, d'Huart, and de Prémorel families. His son, Émile, would go on to lead a failed communist revolt on 9 January 1919.