3-034-824 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Statue of Mr. John Cockerill at Seraing, Belgium, 1871. 'The town of Seraing...contains 25,000 inhabitants, all dependent on the great iron-smelting and engine-making works of Messrs. John Cockerill and Co., which employ 8000 persons, in the iron mines, coal-pits, foundry, and machine-factory, earning average wages of 3f. to 3f. 20c. a day. These great works owe their establishment to Mr. John Cockerill, the son of a working man, who left England and settled at Verviers...After the peace of 1814, he purchased the estate and palace of the Prince Bishop of Liège, at Seraing; and, being joined by the late King of Holland, then King of the Netherlands, as a partner in trade, set up this business, which was soon developed to an enormous extent. Mr. John Cockerill's partnership with the King of the Netherlands was dissolved by the Belgian Revolution of 1830. He sustained heavy losses in 1839, and died in the same year. The business is now carried on by a limited-liability company, in the name of John Cockerill and Co. Our Illustration represents the fine statue of Mr. Cockerill, which has been erected, more than thirty years after his death, at the cost of the town of Seraing. The sculptor is a Belgian artist, M. Cattier'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.