Anton Hunkeler

Anton Hunkeler (born January 6, 1799 in Schötz ; † March 7, 1879 in Lucerne , resident in Schötz) was a liberal Swiss politician .

biography

Hunkeler came from the Buttenberg estate in the Swiss community of Schötz . As the son of the farmer Josef Hunkeler, he got his education in the grammar schools of the monastery Einsiedeln and in Lucerne. He completed a commercial apprenticeship in Eriswil . From 1823 he began his political career as a member of the Liberal Party of Lucerne, first as official, then as Lucerne state clerk. At the age of 32, he already sat in the legislature of the city (Grand City Council) and the Canton of Lucerne (Grand Council). At the age of 38 he took over government responsibility in the Kleinrat, the executive branch of the Canton of Lucerne. In the period from 1848 to 1854 he was the governor and at the same time studied law, which he graduated from the bar in 1853. At the same time he made the leap into federal politics, first as a member of the Lucerne Council of States (1853–1855). In the parliamentary elections in 1863 , he was elected to the National Council , of which he was a member until 1869. In addition, from 1854 to 1857, Hunkeler served as the Lucerne chief judge (court of appeal). He was on the board of directors of the Swiss Central Railway and, as a member of the initiative committee of the Bern-Lucerne Railway, a major promoter of railway development in Switzerland. He remained single and when he died in Lucerne at the age of 80, he donated his fortune to a foundation to promote the vocational training of young people.

literature

• Caspar Meyer, Schötzer Dorfgeschichte, self-published, 1972

Web links

• Markus Trüeb: Hunkeler, Anton. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .