← 1887 1886 1885 1888 in Belgium → 1889 1890 1891
Decades:	1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
See also:	Other events of 1888 List of years in Belgium

The following lists events that happened during 1888 in the Kingdom of Belgium.

Incumbents

• Monarch: Leopold II^[1]
• Prime Minister: Auguste Marie François Beernaert^[2]

Events

• Belgian State Railways Type 12 taken into service.

• 27 May – Provincial elections
• 12 June – Partial legislative elections of 1888
• August – Preaching of Charles Lavigerie in Brussels Minster inspires the founding of the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society
• 26-27 August – Polydore de Keyser, Lord Mayor of London, visits Dendermonde

Publications

Periodicals

• Het Laatste Nieuws begins publication

Studies

• Theodore Low De Vinne, Christopher Plantin, and the Plantin-Moretus Museum at Antwerp (Grolier Club, New York)^[3]

Literature

• J.-H. Rosny, Les Xipéhuz
• Émile Verhaeren, Les Soirs and Les Débâcles

Art and architecture

Paintings

• Robert Alott, Am Strand von Ostende
• Théo van Rysselberghe, Portrait of Alice Sethe

Opera

• Patrie! performed at Ghent (25 January) and Antwerp (6 March)

Births

• 2 February – Valerius Coucke, biblical scholar (died 1951)
• 19 February – Hector Tiberghien, cyclist (died 1951)
• 29 February – Fanny Heldy, opera singer (died 1973)
• 4 March – Charles Leirens, photographer and musician (died 1963)
• 19 March – Léon Scieur, coureur cycliste (died 1969)
• 23 May – Dieudonné Saive, small arms designer (died 1970)
• 14 July – Odile Defraye, cyclist (died 1965)
• 11 August – Paul Loicq, hockey administrator (died 1953)
• 16 October – Émile Masson, cyclist (died 1973)
• 2 December – Omer Verschoore, cyclist (died 1932)

Deaths

• 8 January – Josephus Laurentius Dyckmans (born 1811), painter
• 6 February – Gaston Errembault de Dudzeele (born 1819), diplomat
• 17 July – Henricus Franciscus Bracq (born 1804), bishop of Ghent
• 20 July – Henri de Braekeleer (born 1840), painter
• 15 August – Alexandre Jamar (born 1821), businessman
• 8 October – Jules d'Anethan (born 1803), politician