<b>1865 - 1888 Mons, Rue de la Halle, 39</b> ° 1.4.1830; + 4.10.1913. Artillery officer, then landowner in Ghlin, near Mons, where he was acting mayor of the commune. Patent of 1.12.1865 for "a portable photographic darkroom". Author of "La Belgique pittoresque. Les châteaux", Mons 1872 (- 1878) containing 168 lithographic plates with tinted background after his photographs. Each plate is accompanied by an explanatory leaf of text. This series constitutes the most complete documentation of country residences in Belgium of that period. Emile de Damseaux used the portable darkroom for preparing his exposures in the field. Founder member of the ABP. Active member of the "Cercle archéologique de Mons". An energetic, inventive and gregarious individual, de Damseaux was a free thinker. In an era when cremation was still illegal in Belgium, de Damseaux arranged for his body to be transported over the border to Mainz [D] for incineration and his ashes to be scattered at sea.