MEERSCH, JEAN-ANDR VAN DER

born Feb. 10, 1734, Menen, Austrian Netherlands [now in Belgium] died Sept. 14, 1792, Dadizeele military leader of the Belgian revolt against Austrian rule in 1789. Meersch joined the French army in 1757 during the Seven Years' War and rose to lieutenant colonel in 1761. He later served in the Austrian army and retired in 1779. In the 1789 revolt, which was precipitated by Austrian attempts to replace traditional Belgian autonomy with centralized authority, Meersch accepted (August 1789) the leadership of the forces of the Belgian rebel Jean-Franois Vonck. He defeated an Austrian detachment at Turnhout on October 24, won further successes, and concluded an armistice with the Austrian general Richard d'Alton in December. The hostility of Vonck's rival Henri van der Noot resulted in Meersch's arrest in April 1790. On the restoration of Austrian authority in Belgium in December 1790, Meersch fled to France, but, later amnestied, he returned to Brussels and then retired to Dadizeele.