
Con su maquinaria de contrabando, Bauwens fundó dos fábricas de algodón en París, en 1799, y en Gante, en 1800, concretamente en la antigua Abadía de Drongen . En ese período, durante la ocupación francesa, fue alcalde de Gante. Conoció a Napoleón en 1810 durante la visita del Emperador a Gante, y Bauwens fue condecorado con la Cruz de la Legión de Honor. Murió en 1822, a la edad de 52 años.
Desde 1866, Gante tiene una estatua a Lieven Bauwens, en la plaza que lleva su nombre. La estatua actual, en bronce, es de 1885. Un ejemplar de la Mule Jenny se puede ver en el Museo de Arqueología Industrial y Textil (MIAT) de Gante que se encuentra en una antigua fábrica de algodón.
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Lieven Bauwens was born in 1769 in Waaistraat, close to Friday Market. A plaque, near to the socialist headquarters, marks the place where he was born. When he was seventeen, he was sent by her father to Great Britain, to study the new tanning techniques, in order to modernise the tannery of the family. Acting as a industrial spy, Bauwens traveled several times to United Kingdom and he brought to the continent the spinning machine (Mule Jenny) and skilled workers. He was convicted to death by Brithish authorities, but he managed to avoid his execution.
With his smuggled machines, Bauwens funded two cotton factories: in Paris (1799) and in Ghent (1800), in the former abbey in Drongen. During the French occupation, he was Mayor of Ghent for a year. He met Napoleón in 1810, during the Emperor visit to Ghent, and Bauwens was awarded with the Legion d'Honneur. He died in 1822 when he was 52 years old.
From 1866, Ghent has a statue dedicated to Lieven Bauwens, at the place with the name of the entrepeneur. The present statue, made with bronze, was set in 1885. One unit of the Mule Jenny is exhibited at the Museum of Industrial and Textil Arqueology (MIAT) in Ghent, wich is located in a former cotton factory.