Balthazar Frederik Mühlenfels
Balthazar Frederik v. Mühlenfels (died September 5, 1807 in Heiligenhafen ) was Governor General of the Danish West Indies .
Life
He was the son of a discharged lieutenant in the infantry, was made a cadet in 1766 and a lieutenant in 1772. In 1780 he was then first lieutenant of the regiment on foot. In 1785 he was dismissed with the rank of captain on request because of a weak chest.
He then went to the Caribbean, where he was constituted in 1786, and was appointed land surveyor and superintendent of the Danish islands in 1791. In 1795 he became a lieutenant colonel and deputy commander in chief of St. Thomas, and in the following year he became the actual commander in chief. In 1799 he was promoted to deputy governor and colonel. The government commission, which had been sent to the West Indies on the occasion of its handover to the English in 1801, found that under the difficult conditions he had completely fulfilled his duty and at the same time dissolved the commission on October 27, 1802.
After the fire of 1804, he shaped the capital of Saint Thomas, Charlotte Amalie, as an architect during the reconstruction.
In May 1807 he traveled to Europe to recover in a colder climate, but already on September 5th he died in Heiligenhafen.
In 1775 he was naturalized as a Dane, but he could not prove his foreign, probably aristocratic character.
From 1789 there is a hand-drawn plan by the surveyor Balthazar Frederik von Mühlenfels (d. 1807) of Saint Croix , who later became Governor General and, as the architect, was to shape the capital of Saint Thomas, Charlotte Amalie, during the reconstruction after the fire of 1804.
source
GL Grove: "v. Mühlenfels, Balthazar Frederik" (i: Dansk biografisk Lexikon, 1. udgave, bind XI, p. 561–562) [1]
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mühlenfels, Balthazar Frederik |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mühlenfels, Balthazar Frederik von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Governor General of the Danish West Indies |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 18th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 5, 1807 |
| Place of death | Heiligenhafen |