Hendrik Pieter "Henri" Marchant (12 February 1869 – 12 May 1956) was a Dutch politician who co-founded the Free-thinking Democratic League (VDB) and served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1900 until 1933, after which he was Minister of Education, Arts, and Science until 1935.[1][2]
Marchant was active in local politics in Deventer before elected to the House of Representatives in 1900 for the Liberal Union (LU).[1] In 1901 he was one of the founding members of the VDB, a merger of the Radical League and the left wing of the LU.[1][3] In 1916 he became leader of the VDB's parliamentary group.[4]
In 1919 his private member's bill led to women's suffrage in the Netherlands.[5] His main political opponent was Hendrik Colijn, whose first cabinet he helped come to a premature end in 1925.[1][6] Marchant subsequently was appointed formateur but failed to form a new, centre-left cabinet.[1]
In 1933 he accepted the position of Minister of Education, Arts, and Science in the Second Colijn cabinet. He introduced a spelling reform that bore his name ("spelling-Marchant").[1] He resigned in 1935 when he lost his party's support following the disclosure of his secret baptism.[7]
Klijnsma, Meine Henk (2007). Om de Democratie: de Geschiedenis van de Vrijzinnig-Democratische Bond, 1901-1946 [About Democracy: the History of the Free-thinking Democratic League, 1901–1946] (in Dutch). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Bert Bakker. ISBN978-90-351-3239-9.
van der Kaaij, Meindert (2012). Een Eenzaam Staatsman: Dirk de Geer (1870-1960) [A Lonely Statesman: Dirk de Geer (1870-1960)] (in Dutch). Hilversum, Netherlands: Verloren. ISBN9789087042936.
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