19 Facts About Nicolaas Pierson

Nicolaas Gerard Pierson was a Dutch economist and Liberal statesman who served as the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands from 1897 until 1901.

Nicolaas Pierson was minister of Finance in the Cabinet Van Tienhoven.

Nicolaas Pierson received an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge.

Nicolaas Gerard Pierson was born in Amsterdam on 7 February 1839, to Jan Lodewijk Gregory Pierson and his wife Ida Oyens.

The youngest of six children, Nicolaas Pierson had two brothers and three sisters.

Two of his brothers, Allard and Hendrik Nicolaas Pierson, would become famous pastors.

Nicolaas Pierson's father was a merchant, while his mother was a Reveil writer.

Nicolaas Pierson attended a French school in Amsterdam from 1845 to 1853.

Nicolaas Pierson went to an English school in Brussels in 1853, but switched to a trade school in Amsterdam a year later.

On 2 June 1864, Nicolaas Pierson graduated as a teacher in political economy.

Nicolaas Pierson worked in his father's glass shop from 1860 to 1861, and owned a business selling colonial goods, Beckman en Pierson, from 1861 to 1864.

Nicolaas Pierson took office 1 February the same year, and kept his position until 21 Augustus 1891.

In 1883 Nicolaas Pierson became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Nicolaas Pierson served as minister of Finance from 21 August 1891 to 9 May 1894, and again from 26 July 1897 to 1 August 1901.

On 26 July 1905, Nicolaas Pierson was elected into the House of Representatives for the constituency of Gorinchem.

Nicolaas Pierson did not seek election in 1909, giving up his seat on 1 August.

Nicolaas Pierson is credited with an important role in the Socialist calculation debate, when he criticised Karl Kautsky, who had delivered a speech in Delft in 1902.

On 30 October 1862, Nicolaas Pierson married Catharina Rutgera Waller in Amsterdam.

Nicolaas Pierson died shortly after their marriage, and the couple remained childless.