Exposition de Charleroi, 1895

The Exposition internationale, industrielle, commerciale, agricole et horticole de Charleroi was a privately promoted regional fair held under the patronage of the Charleroi communal administration. Its promoter and director was Harbulot, who described himself as a professional organizer of such events. The other members of the organizing “trinité” were Jacques Motte, commissaire général, and Auguste Misonne, administrateur and a local brewer. The Gazette de Charleroi announced the project in October 1894, to public disbelief. The town granted its patronage only after initial hesitation. According to Harbulot, the venture borrowed nothing and ran on the credit of exhibitors’ registration fees.

The site lay in the Ville-Haute, on what is now the boulevard Janson. The main entrance, with a turnstile, was on the boulevard du Nord, and the Direction’s offices were at 21, rue du Laboratoire. The organizers gave its extent as 15,000 m² of galleries and gardens. There were halls for industry, machines and schools, a fine-arts gallery, a restaurant, and the “Charleroi-Attraction” hall. The attractions included a gravity switchback railway [chemin de fer américain], a panorama, a mechanical theatre, luminous fountains, daily concerts, various competitions, and an infant incubator exhibit.

The café-brasserie opened on 13 April 1895, which is the source of the 13 April date sometimes given for the exposition. The official opening by Bourgmestre Jules Audent took place on Saturday 4 May. The exposition closed on Sunday 6 October, with the award distribution and an exhibitors’ banquet. A rival banquet of “Mau-Contins” (malcontents) was held the same evening. At the closing, Harbulot gave attendance as 66,000 paid entries, 620 season-ticket holders and 6,891 children. Local reception was mixed: the major local industries largely stayed away, and Harbulot himself acknowledged that “on a dit beaucoup de mal de l’Exposition” [a lot of bad things were said about the Exhibition].

The Incubator Exhibit

On 22 April 1895 the organizing committee reported that it was negotiating with “la Direction des couveuses d’enfants à Paris” to install a “salle de maternité artificielle,” which it promised would be “le clou de l’Exposition” [the highlight of the exposition]. On 19 May the incubators were still expected “très prochainement” [very soon]. By 9 June they were operating. The incubator exhibit was in the gardens near the chemin de fer américain, although it is unclear from the press accounts whether it was a room in a larger structure or a free-standing pavilion (press descriptions varied among “salle,” “palais,” “pavilion,” and “petit chalet.”).

The Charleroi Exposition, small as it is, is interesting for our purposes because it is one of the few incubator exhibits at an exposition in Europe that we know about that was not operated by Lion, Couney, Ehrlich, or Leotardi. The exhibit was run by M. Gaston Gilles and his wife. Argus described it as a small-scale version of the maternal establishment founded in Paris by their close relatives, M. and Mme de Miomandre. Gilles was styled “directeur de l’œuvre de la propagation des couveuses d’enfants,” the name under which A. de Miomandre himself operated a couveuse room at Nantes later that year and a storefront in Paris at 8, avenue de la Republique that rented out incubators. The apparatus used was the Tarnier couveuse, not Lion’s.

The exhibit admitted local infants. In June, the director, presumably Gilles, told a Gazette writer that care was given free of charge to any infant brought in, “pourvu que notre matériel soit suffisant” [provided that our equipment is sufficient]. No separate admission fee for the pavilion has been found in the press accounts. A collection box in the room raised money, and half its July proceeds, 8.47 fr, went to the Charleroi Orphelinat.

The press tracked the census in the pavilion, which was never large:

On June 9 a single infant (“le sujet vivant”) was in residence.
Twins, Rose (2,550 g) and Camille (2,100 g), were admitted on July 15.
On July 17 the column reported three residents.
On 21 July the paper reported two residents. Whether the first infant had left by then is unknown.

On 18 August Argus reported that 7 of the 8 infants entrusted had been saved.

The exhibit was popular, and the Gazette described visitors leaving the evening fêtes to watch the infants’ progress. It also drew some popular suspicion, with talk of Gilles as a “sorcier.” Argus urged the Charleroi hospital to adopt at least one couveuse.

The jury visited on August 20–24 while the exhibit was operating. The published award list (September 19) gives a Grand Prix to “de Miomandre et Gilles à Paris.” The couveuses were last promoted as an attraction on August 29. By Sunday September 29 the pavilion was empty of infants and was being used for a fruit, flower and vegetable show. The exhibit therefore closed at some point between August 29 and September 29, a week or more before the exposition itself, although I have not been able to establish an exact date from the press coverage of the Exposition.

Sources

All press coverage below is from the Gazette de Charleroi (Charleroi), 1895, retrieved via BelgicaPress (KBR), retrieved October 2026. No coverage of the Charleroi Exposition was found in the French press digitized in Gallica or Retronews.fr, or elsewhere in the Belgian press that is digitized in KBR, which is consistent with the small attendance and regional nature of the Charleroi exposition. Unfortunately the Journal de Charleroi, which might have provided additional coverage, is not digitized in KBR.

Organizers’ daily column, “Exposition de Charleroi” / “Exposition Internationale de Charleroi” from Gazette de Charleroi

1 Apr 1895: season tickets, exhibitor cards, planned calendar, local abstention.
11 Apr 1895: café-brasserie to open 13 Apr; official opening 4 May.
19 Apr 1895: gallery enlargement; Misonne beer, De Negry Scotch; sino-Japanese salon.
21 Apr 1895: admission tariffs; Concordia; season-ticket procedure.
22 Apr 1895: negotiations with the Paris “Direction des couveuses d’enfants”; offices at 21, rue du Laboratoire.
26 Apr 1895: inauguration arrangements; opening-day admission 2 fr.
4 May 1895: programme of the opening festivities.
19 May 1895: couveuses to be installed “très prochainement.”
29 May 1895: couveuses in the list of promoted attractions (current and forthcoming mixed).
9 Jun 1895: couveuses operating; “le sujet vivant.”
18 Jun 1895: growing crowds at the couveuses; skeptics convinced.
3 Jul 1895: “Palais des Couveuses d’enfants” beside the chemin de fer américain.
17 Jul 1895: twins arrive; three residents; “petit chalet.”
21 Jul 1895: twins Rose and Camille, admitted 15 July, with weights; weekly bulletins promised.
12 Aug 1895: “séances spéciales aux couveuses.”
14 Aug 1895: couveuses among the attractions; jury dates 20–24 Aug.
22 Aug 1895: “Visitons les couveuses d’enfants.”
29 Aug 1895: last listing of the couveuses; 15,000 m² figure; exposition entering its last month.
19 Sept 1895: “Liste des récompenses (Suite),” with the Grand Prix to “de Miomandre et Gilles à Paris.” This is official award information as published by the organizers. Earlier installments were not located, probably owing to poor OCR.
1 Oct 1895: couveuse pavilion reused for the horticultural show; closing announced for 6 Oct.
6 Oct 1895: closing-day programme.

Editorial features and reports from Gazette de Charleroi

“Exposition-Chronique,” 19 Jun 1895: weekly weights of the babies promised.
“Exposition-Chronique,” 20 Jun 1895: Gaston Gilles, “propagateur de l’œuvre des couveuses”; the “sorcier” rumor.
“Exposition-Chronique,” 23 Jun 1895: interview with the couveuse director; free care; the “pavillon des couveuses.”
“L’Ouverture de l’Exposition de Charleroi,” 5 May 1895: official opening report and speeches.
Argus, “Revue de l’Exposition,” parts I (14 Aug), II (15 Aug), III (16 Aug), IV (18 Aug) and XII (26 Sept) 1895. Part IV carries the couveuse account: the Gilles and Miomandre connection, Tarnier apparatus, 7 of 8 saved. Parts V–XI not located.
“Orphelinat,” 14 Aug 1895: news item outside the exposition column; donation from “M. Gaston Gille” of half the July collection-box proceeds from the salle des couveuses. “Gille” is a variant spelling.
“La remise des récompenses à l’Exposition de Charleroi,” 7 Oct 1895: closing ceremony; Harbulot’s speech; attendance figures (promotional, attributed to Harbulot).
“La clôture de l’Exposition,” 9 Oct 1895: closing banquet and the Mau-Contins banquet.

Other Sources

“L’Exposition Internationale de Charleroi de 1911,” charleroi-decouverte.be, https://www.charleroi-decouverte.be/pages/index.php?id=423, retrieved 20 Oct 2026. Unofficial local-history site; no sources cited for 1895. It gives the organizer as “Herbulot” (contemporary spelling: Harbulot) and an opening on 13 April (actually the café-brasserie; the official opening was 4 May).

Last Updated on 10/22/26