POTTER United Families

Being the mayor of Rumbeke he enormously accommodated to the
whole population of the district during the disastrous years 1846-
1847, when both famine and typhus struck Flanders.
Alexander supported the abolition of the multiple papers for living
on unemployment pay in the Chamber and demanded, in exchange,
a lowering on taxes on the ports to 1 cent and on letters to 10 cents.
He was appointed as a member of the High Council for Agriculture
of the kingdom, an important administration when the population
was starving.
Alexander’s brother, Pedro, had also helped Louis by handing out to
King Willem a petition letter of the famous school of Roulers, “Le
Petit Séminaire”, asking the liberation of Louis de Potter from his
prison of the “Petits Carmes” in Brussels.
Also, upon the suggestion of Alexander Rodenbach, his brother
Pierre had helped Louis de Potter on several occasion. For example,
he had brought Louis to Brussels from Lille when the whole Belgian
population was expecting him as the national hero.
Also during that period, Alexander returned to Bruges where he
organized the local rebellion with Adolphe Bartels, friend of Louis de
Potter. He provoked the rout of the Dutch garrison by his inflamed
proclamation addressed to the non-commissioned officers of the
army, and peddled in the barracks by the merchants of canvases.
Thanks to the kind help, between 2010 and 1017, of Pierre-Paul De
Beir and Jo Steverlinck, both members of the Rodenbach dynasty,
plus the genuine support of Jan Toye, CEO of the Palm Rodenbach
Brewery in 2015, we could discover the unknown role of The
Rodenbach Brothers during the Belgian independence.
They played an instrumental role and provided energetic efforts to
set up new power and prepare West Flanders for the resistance…!
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