Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert

Who was Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert?

Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert was a Flemish writer. He studied medicine at the University of Utrecht and became officer of health in the Dutch army. After his dismissal, he graduated in medicine at the University of Ghent, and became a general practitioner in Ghent. Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert became active in the Flemish movement. He founded the Maetschappy van Vlaemsche Letteroefening De Tael is gantsch het Volk, and he participated in several Flemish actions, such as the Vlaams petitionnement, the Kunst- en Letterblad, the Dutch Linguistic and Literary Conferences, the Rapport van de Grievencommissie en the Vlaemsch Verbond.

In 1847, he succeeded his friend Jan Frans Willems as member of the Royal Belgian Academy in Brussels, where he represented the Flemish cause, and he was one of the co-founders of the Willemsfonds. In 1849, at the first Dutch Linguistic and Literary Conference, he held the opening speech, where he argued every possible means should be used to strengthen the spirit of the people, and that we should fight those who worked against the development of the spirit of the people. Language was believed to be an important tool to influence the character of the people.