Carl Poensgen (industrialist)

Carl Poensgen

Carl Poensgen (born January 27, 1838 in Schleiden / Eifel, † November 3, 1921 in Düsseldorf ) was a German industrialist and Royal Prussian Privy Councilor . He comes from the Eifel entrepreneurial family , the Poensgen , who had operated iron works in the Schleiden area as Reidemeister since the middle of the 15th century . Several lines moved to Düsseldorf in the second half of the 19th century, where they played a key role in the development of the Rhenish iron, steel and pipe industry.

Live and act

Carl Poensgen was the son of the Schleiden smelter Carl Poensgen senior (1802-1848) and attended elementary school in Schleiden, the grammar school in Duisburg , the trade school in Cologne and the Bergakademie Freiberg in Saxony (Montane) and the Montan University Leoben . In 1860 he joined as a volunteer in the metallurgical and rolling mill " Reinhard Poensgen one" in Dusseldorf, which his two cousins remote Gustav Poensgen and Rudolf Poensgen at this time of Gemünd (Schleiden) had moved to Dusseldorf. The next year he went into business for himself and founded one of the first German Bessemer steelworks together with Friedrich Giesbers in Gemünd . Initially, it was unsuccessful because the Eifel iron ore had too high a phosphorus content. After studying in England, he relocated the company to Düsseldorf in 1864, in order to successfully manufacture high-quality steel using the new Bessemer process - under the company C. Poensgen, Giesbers & Co (later Oberbilker Stahlwerke AG ).

In 1871 he left the company with Giesbers and became a partner in the tube rolling mill founded by his father-in-law Albert Poensgen in Düsseldorf in 1860, which in 1872, together with the iron and steel mills of his relatives Gustav and Rudolf Poensgen, became " Düsseldorfer Röhren- und Eisenwalzwerke AG " Poensgen ”was united. Thanks to his determination, the "wind-freshening process", which was extremely important for the development of the iron industry, was further developed to such an extent that later, after the introduction of the basic fodder, even the motherland of England could be overtaken. Carl Poensgen was one of the new founders of the "Association of German Ironworkers", today's steel institute VDEh . After retiring from his work at a ripe old age, he created a large landscape park based on the English model in Ratingen near Düsseldorf in 1907, which as Poensgenpark is still an attraction for numerous visitors today.

family

Carl Poensgen was married to Clara Poensgen (1846–1910), daughter of Albert Poensgen (1818–1880) and Emma Rothscheidt (1828–1892) and sister of the medical doctor and forestry owner Albert Poensgen , since 1870 . Together they had ten children, seven boys and three girls, including the Düsseldorf industrialist Ernst Poensgen , the private banker Kurt Poensgen and the president of the finance court as well as multiple world and vice world champion in billiards Albert Poensgen . One child died in infancy and two in early manhood.

literature

• Lutz Hatzfeld:  Poensgen. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 567 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Edmund Strutz (Ed.): German Gender Book , Volume 123, CA Starke , Glücksburg (Baltic Sea) 1958.
• Josef Wilden: Five Poensgen are creating a new Düsseldorf . Düsseldorf 1942.
• Heinrich Kelleter, Ernst Poensgen: The history of the Poensgen family . A. Bagel Verlag , Düsseldorf 1908.
• Horst A. Wessel : The entrepreneurs of the Poensgen family in the Eifel and in Düsseldorf. In: moving, connecting, shaping. Entrepreneurs from the 17th to the 20th century . (= Writings on Rhenish-Westphalian Economic History, Vol. 44.) Foundation Rhenish-Westphalian Economic Archive in Cologne, Cologne 2003.
• Obituary for Carl Poensgen in the magazine "Stahl und Eisen", year 1921, issue 41, p. 1839.

Web links

• Actiengesellschaft Oberbilker Stahlwerk vorm. C. Poensgen, Giersbers & Co. On: albert-gieseler.de
• Steam engines.
• Carl Poensgen on the mining board of the Plettenberg zinc union.
• Leisure tips circular route Poensgenpark. On: stadt-ratingen.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Dittmar Dahlmann: Ernst Poensgen , in the Internet portal Rheinische Geschichte, accessed on February 17, 2020