Alfred Vanderpol

Alfred Vanderpol (7 April 1854 – 17 June 1915) was a French engineer, philanthropist and author who was one of the leaders of the pacifist movement in France in the years leading up to World War I (1914–18).

After living in Le Havre for several years the Vanderpols returned to Tourcoing, where on 30 December 1865 the father had been appointed to the customs office.

On his teacher's advice he then entered the École centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Lille, and graduated in 1876 with a diploma in engineering.

[2] In 1906 Vanderpol attended the Pacifist Congress in Milan, and from this time worked to convince Catholic circles of the importance of the fight for peace.

In 1907 Vanderpol and the Abbé Pichot founded the Société Gratry, named after the priest and professor at the Sorbonne who had adhered to the International Peace League in 1867.

In 1909 the Société Gratry became the Ligue des catholiques français pour la paix (League of French Catholics for Peace).

He tried to mobilize Catholics in favor of universal peace, himself taking "a position equidistant from extreme militarism and utopian pacifism."

The French attendees included Lucien Le Foyer, Jeanne Mélin, Théodore Ruyssen, Alfred Vanderpol, Gaston Moch and Émile Arnaud.

[6] After the outbreak of war in 1914 Vanderpol organized assistance for the wounded in the premises of the Society for Rescue of Morally Abandoned Children.

[2][8] A square in Vaise, near Saint Peter's Church and the asylum, has born his name since 1955, with a plaque to "Alfred Vanderpol, an apostle of peace.