Paul Wittouck

Paul Grégoire Pierre Wittouck (6 August 1851 – 9 November 1917) was a Belgian industrialist. He and his brother Frantz Wittouck became the largest sugar manufacturers in Belgium in the period leading up to the Great War. He was the grandson of Lawyer and High Magistrate Guillaume Wittouck.

Sugar manufacturer

Paul's career was shaped by his father Félix-Guillaume Wittouck (1812-1898) giving him ever larger responsibilities. In 1881 Paul's father gave him a sugar factory in Princenhage, Breda. At the time this might have referred to the management only. In 1882 Paul Wittouck was indeed mentioned as director of the Breda sugar factory. In May 1883 the sugar factory in Bergen op Zoom was suddenly referred to as that of 'Messrs. Wittouck'. In January 1884 there was talk of the sugar factory of Paul Wittouck in Breda and Bergen op Zoom.

Later, Paul and his brother (1855–1914) owned a sugar factory in Wanze. They were the first in Belgium to produce crystallized sugar, and to sell sugar lumps. The sugar factory at Wanze became the largest in Belgium after its reorganization by Paul Wittouck in 1887. During the 1887–88 period the factory used the juice of of beets daily, extracted in 13 new plants. The manufacturing steps included carbonation, filtration, evaporation, cooking and processing by turbines.

In 1894 the brothers took over Vinckenbosch & Cie and turned it into a limited company. Vinckenbosch's sugar refinery of Tienen had been founded in 1836–38. The brothers faced fierce competition from other sugar manufacturers in Belgium, but emerged as the dominant firm. Through a series of technical innovations and improvement the volume of sugar produced in Tienen rose from 7,000 tonnes in 1894 to 62,000 tonnes in 1913. The company began to export sugar and the take over other Belgian companies. The Wanze and Tienen plants were integrated into one industrial group shortly before the outbreak of World War I in 1914. During the war the factories struggled to continue operations, but were able to manufacture enough to supply the major cities.

Château

The Château de La Fougeraie was built for Paul Wittouck in 1911 by the architects Louis Süe (1875–1968) and Paul Huillard (1875–1966). The engineer was L. Bogaerts. Gustave Louis Jaulmes (1873–1959) decorated the interior. Sue, Huillard and Jaulmes avoided Art Nouveau for the château, and instead chose the fashionable Louis XVI style "à la Greque".