Alfred von Wedel

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Friedrich Wilhelm August Alfred Graf von Wedel (born May 8, 1833 in Osnabrück , † June 23, 1890 in Heidelberg ), Royal Hanover Chamberlain , Castle captain and travel marshal of King George V of Hanover.

origin

His father was Count Carl von Wedel (also: Wedel-Jarlsberg , born June 6, 1790 in Magdeburg ; † November 18, 1853 in Hanover ), an administrative lawyer , director of the Osnabrück justice office from 1826 , from 1837 to 1846 Osnabrücker Landdrost and from 1847 Minister of Culture in Hanover. His mother was Freiin Wilhelmine von dem Bussche-Hünnefeld (born May 10, 1805 in Haus Steinhausen near Halle (Westphalia) ; † June 21, 1892 in Weimar), lady of state of Queen Marie of Hanover , daughter of Clamor Graf von dem Bussche- Hünnefeld (1767–1822), Chamberlain in Hanover , Royal Westphalian envoy in Saint Petersburg , Royal Westphalian count ⚭ June 3, 1803 with Mauritia von Dalwigk (1775–1805).

Life

As a member of the ancient noble family of the Counts von Wedel , Friedrich Wilhelm August Alfred Graf von Wedel was one of four brothers and the oldest of three brothers from the second marriage of his father Carl Anton Wilhelm Graf von Wedel. At Easter 1848 he was admitted to the third class of the Knights' Academy in Lüneburg under matriculation number 1135. After graduating from the knight academy, von Wedel went through a career as an officer in the Hanoverian Army , in which he rose to prime lieutenant .

In 1860 the future chamberlain of Wedel married Emilie Stieglitz (* 1836).

After the dismissal of court marshal Ernst von Hedemann , who was accused of infidelity , King George V entrusted his prime lieutenant Alfred Graf von Wedel with the services previously performed by von Hedemann, without von Wedel receiving a title for this, such as cupbearer . At first, initially on a trial at the royal court employed for 6 months "[...] Behuf acquisition of the requisite knowledge", was under von Wedel then the planning of the Hofdienste from the bourgeoisie originating servants and hosting at court. In addition, von Wedel was in charge of household affairs, such as the finances for and the ordering of food and drinks, and in particular the organization of royal trips. Alfred Graf von Wedels direct superior was the Oberhofmarschall Baron Carl Otto Unico Ernst von Malortie , who doubted "the proper firmness both upwards and downwards" of the 29-year-old von Wedels when he took office. In the beginning, Wedel did not transfer the same abundance of skills as Hedemann. Initially, he had to present all receipts about expenses and budgets to the Oberhofmarschall von Malortie “before they were paid out to the Crown Treasury”.

Despite such initial skepticism, Count von Wedel was appointed castle captain and travel marshal on December 9, 1862 . For this position, von Wedel, who barely had his own fortune, was rewarded with a salary of 1200 thalers , which did not allow for a high level of lifestyle management. Due to the "great fortune" of his wife Emilie geb. Goldfinch was able to afford Alfred Graf von Wedel the Villa Wedel named after him and built in 1863 by the architect Edwin Oppler at the then address Parkstrasse 1 in the residential city of Hanover . The building opposite the Villa Solms was later named after its new owner Herhold.

In June 1867, Alfred was together with his mother, who was still active as a lady of state for the former Queen Marie, and his brother Ernst , who was the stable master, in Hietzing near Vienna, where the dethroned King George V of Hanover had fled. Alfred Graf Wedel belonged to the king's closest circle until at least 1867 due to his office as castle captain, which is also proven by his letters. About the court in Hietzing he says: "Here everyone says of the other that he is a villain, a stranger must therefore believe that we are all villains". The statement is to be understood against the background that George V tried in the first years after the defeat against Prussia to persuade the major European powers to start a campaign of revenge against Prussia by all means. Prussia reacted to this, of course. For example, “Count Alfred von Wedel, castle captain of the former King of Hanover”, together with six other former officers of the Hanoverian army, was indicted for state crime by the royal Prussian court on November 1, 1867 for high treason, “domestically and abroad as royal Prussian Subjects to have entered into a conspiracy in 1867 to tear the royal Prussian province of Hanover free from the Prussian state ». Since the defendants were outside the judiciary, they were asked to present themselves. Alfred's brother Erhard , former wing adjutant of the King of Hanover, was also one of the Guelph agitators from the Prussian perspective. Because he was arrested in July 1870 in the run-up to the Franco-German war "together with some other gentlemen in Hanover" at the instigation of Otto von Bismarck , "to protect them from themselves".

family

Alfred von Wedel married Emilie Stieglitz in 1860 (* May 15, 1836 in Hanover; † April 5, 1908 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer), a daughter of Captain Wilhelm Adolf Stieglitz (1796–1844) and Wilhelmine Christiane von Brandis (1804– 1893). The couple had four children, three of whom died in infancy and their daughter Olga Klara Dorothea Emilie (born October 6, 1872, † July 14, 1926 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer)

literature

  • Wilhelm Rothert : General Hannoversche Biographie , vol. 1: Hannoversche men and women since 1866 , Sponholtz, Hannover 1912, p. 371
  • Ernst Heinrich Kneschke New general German nobility lexicon . Volume ninth: Steinhaus-Zwierlien. Leipzig 1870. p. 501.

Photographs

In the Hanover State Archives there is a photo album album with 104 portraits of personalities of the Hanoverian court and the Hanoverian society from the period 1860 - 1866, including a photo of the four brothers (or half-brothers) Erhard (* 1828) , Alfred (* 1833), Oskar (* 1835) and Ernst (* 1838) Counts of Wedel.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Cornelia Roolfs: Der hannoversche Hof from 1814 to 1866. Hofstaat und Hofgesellschaft (= sources and representations on the history of Lower Saxony , vol. 124), also dissertation 2002 at the University of Hanover, Hanover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung und Verlag, 2005 , ISBN 978-3-7752-5924-8 and ISBN 978-3-7752-5924-8 , pp. 84f., 256, 384.
  2. ↑ a b Ernst Heinrich Kneschke : German count houses of the present. In heraldic, historical and genealogical relation , vol. 2: LZ , Leipzig: TO Weigel, 1853, p. 653; limited preview in Google Book search
  3. ↑ a b o.V. : Wedel, Alfred Graf von in the database of Lower Saxony Persons of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library - Lower Saxony State Library [undated], last accessed on March 11, 2018
  4. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses. Justus Perthes, Gotha 24th year (1894), p. 134.
  5. ↑ Uta Reinhardt (arrangement): The register of the Knight Academy in Lüneburg. 1656 - 1850 (= publications of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen , 9, Section 4), Hildesheim: Lax, 1979, ISBN 978-3-7848-2107-8 and ISBN 3-7848-2107-3 , p. 38 ; limited preview in Google Book search
  6. ↑ B. v. Cramm, winter 1865/66 in Hanover. In: Prussian Yearbook, Volume 111 (1903), p. 44
  7. ↑ Address book of the royal residence city of Hanover 1868 [1]
  8. ^ Theodor Unger : 171. Eckhaus ... , in ders .: Hannover. Guide through the city and its buildings. Festschrift for the fifth general assembly of the Association of German Architects and Engineers' Associations. Ed .: Architects and Engineers Association of Hanover, Curt R. Vincentz Verlag, Hanover 1882, p. 30 (6th reprint edition 1991, Edition libri rari published by Th. Schäfer, Hanover, Th. Schäfer Druckerei, 1991, ISBN 3 -88746-050-2 )
  9. ↑ The royal exile in Hietzing, Die Gartenlaube. No. 28, 1867, pp. 437-438.
  10. ↑ Hanover's fateful year 1866 in the correspondence between King George V and Queen Marie . Hildesheim 1966.
  11. ^ Oskar Meding , Memoirs of Contemporary History, Volume III, pp. 358–359 - quoted from Wilhelm Oncken , Das Zeitalter des Kaiser Wilhelm. Second volume, 1890, p. 15, footnote 1.
  12. ↑ Königlich Preußischer Staats-Anzeiger, Supplement No. 282 (Nov. 28, 1867), pp. 4565-4566.
  13. ^ Wilhelm Oncken , The Age of Emperor Wilhelm. Second volume, 1890. p. 85.
  14. ^ Photo album in the Landesarchiv Hannover, Dep. 103 XXII No. 7.
personal data
SURNAME Wedel, Alfred von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wedel, Friedrich Wilhelm August Alfred Graf von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German nobleman, royal Hanoverian chamberlain and castle captain
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Osnabrück
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 1890
Place of death Heidelberg