Conrad Hinrich Donner (banker, 1844)
Conrad Hinrich Donner , from 1873: von , from 1902: Freiherr von , (* August 21, 1844 in Altona-Neumühlen ; † March 3, 1911 in Rome , buried in Rethwisch near Preetz ) was a German merchant and banker.
Live and act
Conrad Hinrich Donner was a son of the businessman and banker Bernhard Donner and his wife Helene , née Schröder. He received a commercial training from J. Henry Schröder & Co. in London , which his maternal grandfather had founded. When his father died, his mother took over the management of the Conrad Hinrich Donner trading house in accordance with the provisions of the will . When he came of age, Conrad Hinrich Donner took over the management on January 1, 1870 at the age of 25.
Due to the dissolution of the entire Danish state and the establishment of the German Empire, Altona's importance for trading and banking houses declined. Donner liquidated the location there in 1872 and opened a new company in Hamburg as the sole owner . Since the entrepreneur owned almost no shares in quickly established joint-stock companies, he had no problems with the founder crash and its consequences.
The business of Donner's company initially proceeded as before. In 1881 he took his brother Richard Henry, whom he should have paid off according to the will, as a partner. Around 1890 the business changed. As steamships increasingly replaced sailing ships, Donner discontinued the unprofitable merchant shipping company in 1892. Instead, he intensified the general banking and financing business, especially in overseas trade. He also bought shares in new industries. In 1894 he co-founded the Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke and was a member of its supervisory board. Donner ceded the import and export trade to his brother and, starting in 1905, gradually outsourced the goods business with cotton, coffee, sugar, hides and grain. In 1900 he was among the 20 richest men in the world. When he died, he left a pure banking house.
Like his father, Donner maintained a representative lifestyle. In 1872 he bought the “Schillerburg” in Neumühlen as his summer residence , which was near the “Thunder Castle”. Every year he organized large hunts and in 1878 he bought the Wilmhelmsruh forest estate near Soest for this purpose . He chose the name " Conradsruh " for this and enlarged it by purchasing neighboring farms. He had inherited the Bredeneek estate , on which a classicist building had stood since 1838. He included this in the new building of a pompous mansion with 100 rooms, which was built from 1898 to 1902.
In 1902 Donner decided to have Bredeneek and Rethwisch declared a Fideikommiss . He had already given Bockhorn to his brother Bernhard. The award of the title of baron was connected with the entails. In 1905 Donner bought the Meierhöfe Hohenhütten and Christiansruh and the Lehmkuhlen estate with Trenthorst and Marienwarder bordering on Bredeneek . He took on agriculture, which was now carried out according to modern guidelines.
After his mother's death, Donner had the works of Thorvaldsen , which had belonged to his grandfather , brought to Bredeneek. In addition, a cycle of paintings by August von Kreling , portraits of his parents (painted by Wilhelm von Kaulbach ) and other important pieces from the Neumühlen “Thunder Castle” were brought to Bredeneek. Like the “Schillerburg” before, he then sold the property in Neumühlen.
Following the example of his grandfather, Donner showed himself to be a benefactor. As one of the first entrepreneurs, he voluntarily registered the employees of his office with the health insurance company and paid their contributions himself. In 1906 he founded a pension fund for employees and surviving dependents, which still exists today in a modernized form. The bank kept three percent of the salaries for this and added another seven percent.
Donner had a rest home built for needy children in the Döse district of Cuxhaven , for which a foundation came up for funding. He donated this to the Altona children's hospital . In 1900 he founded the Christ Church for the citizens of Othmarschen together with his wife and mother and paid their pastors.
In December 1910 Donner made a trip to Rome. Here he died a few months later, seriously ill.
family
On February 1, 1873 Donner married at Holsteinborg Castle near Skælskør Bodild Mimi Countess of Holstein-Holsteinborg (born June 5, 1852 in Holsteinborg on Zealand ; † July 9, 1927 in Lehmkuhlen near Preetz). She was a daughter of Ludwig Graf von Holstein-Holsteinborg (1815-1892) and granddaughter of Sophie Elisabeth Zahrtmann, who was a daughter of Conrad Hinrich Donner .
The Donner couple had a son of the same name .
literature
- Maria Möring: Donner, Conrad Hinrich . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pages 92-94.
- Donner, Neumühlen branch, Freiherrlicher Zweig , in: German gender book . Volume 127: Hildegard von Marchtaler : Hamburg gender book. Volume 9. CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1961, p. 222.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Maria Möring: Donner, Conrad Hinrich . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 92.
- ^ Maria Möring: Donner, Conrad Hinrich . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pages 92-93.
- ^ It was named after the merchant and consul Gustav Wilhelm Schiller (1803–1870), who had this country house built in the neo-Gothic style by the English engineer George Giles in 1842/43. (Literature: Landhaus Schiller, "Schillerburg" , in: Renata Klee-Gobert, Heinz Ramm (edit.): The architectural and art monuments of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Volume 2: ALTONA, ELBVORTE . (On behalf of the cultural authority ed. v. Günther Grundmann). 2nd edition, Christians Verlag, Hamburg, 1970, ISBN 3-7672-0595-5 , p. 192)
- ↑ a b c d e f Maria Möring: Donner, Conrad Hinrich . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 93.
- ↑ Painting and Sculpture , in: Camilla G. Kaul: Friedrich Barbarossa im Kyffhäuser : Pictures of a National Myth in the 19th Century, Böhlau, 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-16906-0 , pp. 372–374, digitized . (The text describes how the cycle came about.)
- ↑ Landhaus Donner, "Donnerschloß" in: Renata Klee-Gobert, Heinz Ramm (arrangement): The architectural and art monuments of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Volume 2: ALTONA, ELBVORTE . (Edited by Günther Grundmann on behalf of the cultural authority). 2nd edition, Christians Verlag, Hamburg, 1970, ISBN 3-7672-0595-5 , pp. 170-171
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Donner, Conrad Hinrich |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Von, Conrad Hinrich; From, Freiherr |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German merchant and banker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 21, 1844 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Altona-Neumühlen |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 3, 1911 |
| Place of death | Rome , buried in Rethwisch near Preetz |