19th-century Luxembourgian lawyers

Auguste_Metz

Jean-Antoine Auguste Metz (8 August 1812 – 22 June 1854) was a Luxembourgian entrepreneur, politician, and lawyer. He was a major player in the growing steel industry in Luxembourg during the nineteenth century, as well as a leading liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies, along with his brothers.
Born in Luxembourg City as the youngest of nine children of Jean Metz, Auguste Metz attended the Athénée de Luxembourg, before leaving to study law at the University of Paris in 1833. He gained his licence to practice law in France, but returned to Luxembourg, where he became involved in the steel industry. In 1837, Metz and his brothers Charles and Norbert, were given a ten-year lease of the steel mill at Berbourg. They formed a company, Auguste Metz & Cie, along with Théodore Pescatore, for the purpose of expanding and redeveloping the site. The company expanded, taking over foundries at Grundhof, in the Red Lands, at Eich, and at Fischbach.He first became involved in politics through his opposition to the Third Partition of Luxembourg in 1839. In 1848, Metz sat on Luxembourg's Constituent Assembly, and then the first Chamber of Deputies, elected in 1848 to represent Grevenmacher. He was targeted in the 1854 election by the Simons government. He would not live to see the assembly of the new Chamber of Deputies, however, as he died in Eich just eight days after the election, having fallen ill inspecting the foundry at Berbourg, exacerbated by tonsillitis.He married Petronille Laeis on 17 August 1841. They had four children, including Léon Metz, who became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for forty-three years and Mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette for three years.

Henri_Kirpach

Henri Kirpach (2 March 1841 – 25 April 1911) was a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer.
Kirpach was born in 1841 in Mamer. After studying in Heidelberg and Paris, he started business in Luxembourg City as a lawyer.
In 1870 he was first elected into the Chamber of Deputies.
On 6 August 1878 he became Director-General (Minister) for the Interior in the Blochausen Ministry. From 1885, he remained in this post in the Eyschen government, up until 1910.
His name is connected with the education law of 20 April 1881, also known as the loi Kirpach ("Kirpach law"), which made school attendance mandatory between the ages of 6 and 12. This reform provoked bitter debates over the role of the state in society and the relations between church and state. The law also provided for a single system of public schools, and made it the state's duty to organise education. At the same time, however, the church remained involved, since the local parish priest was an ex officio member of the local commune's school commission, and the schoolteacher was under his supervision.On 1 January 1910 Henri Kirpach became a member of the Council of State.
He died in 1913 in Luxembourg City.