Franz Ergert

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Franz Ergert (born November 24, 1758 in Gabel , † June 16, 1831 at Schloss Neu Falkenburg near Gabel) was an Austrian manufacturer and pioneer of industrialization .

Life

Ergert his first education received in the calico - factory of his father, with whom he shared the operation mid-1790s by the introduction of mechanical looms expanded into an early industrial cotton mill. Ergert later expanded the company to include a textile printing plant and branches in Prague and Vienna .

The calico factory - at that time the only one in Gabel - became one of the main production facilities for cotton goods in Bohemia in the following years . Ergert increased the capacity of his factory to the enormous number of 140 looms , making himself an important cotton manufacturer in Bohemia and an industrialist of his time. The factory aroused the interest of Emperor Napoleon I , who was in Gabel on August 19, 1813.

During the Napoleonic Wars , Ergert's company was seriously affected. In 1811, when Austria went bankrupt , Ergert suffered heavy losses and capital losses. In 1813, Napoleonic soldiers billeted destroyed a large part of his looms, presumably in retaliation for Ergert's well-known leading role in support of the war against France. Even if Ergert did not manage to build on his initial enormous success after the crisis and war years, he still kept production going and then expanded his factory into a solid company. After his death, the now "kk state-authorized cotton and toweling factory Franz Ergert & Son" was continued by his eldest son Wenzel.

Ergert did a lot of good as councilor of the city of Gabel and as a promoter of the public good; for example, he ran a poor house . In 1809 he promoted the struggle for freedom against Napoleon by donating a considerable amount of money to the imperial war chest and contributing materials to equip the Black Corps of the Duke of Braunschweig .

Ergert achieved special significance for the rifle corps in his hometown. First as a rifle master, later as a captain and commanding officer, he pushed ahead with the transformation of the venerable rifle society into a vigilante group with modern armed and uniformed guards at the time. In 1800, the Gabler rifle corps provided the relatively high number of ten fully equipped riflemen to Archduke Charles' legion with substantial allowances from Ergert's own funds . Ergert was praised for this by Emperor Franz II . Also in 1809 the rifle corps received the highest recognition for other armed riflemen who were added to the Imperial and Royal Army . During this time, Ergert's efforts made the corps the special privilege of being allowed to fly an imperial yellow flag with a double-headed eagle. The Gabler rifle corps remained closely associated with the Ergert family until the end of the 19th century: Ergert's son and also his grandson, Mayor Wilhelm Ergert , were long-time rifle captains and corps commanders.

literature

  • Home register of the judicial districts Deutsch-Gabel and Zwickau in Bohemia 1975
  • Collegium Carolinum (Institute) : Bohemia. Yearbook of the Collegium Carolinum, Volume 6, 1965
  • Anton Ernstberger (historian) : Bohemia's voluntary war effort against Napoleon 1809, 1963
  • Bernhard Urban: Deutsch Gabel in the time of Napoleon I, 1937
  • Gustav von Kortzfleisch : History of the Ducal Braunschweig Infantry Regiment and its regular troops 1809–1867, Limbach, 1896
  • Anton Karl Pitsch, manual of the Prague private citizen corps and the entire rifle corps in the Kingdom of Bohemia for the year 1847, 1847
  • Stephan von Keess: (Ed.), Presentation of the factory and trade in the Austrian imperial state, Volume 1, Vienna 1820
  • Stephan von Keess: (Ed.), Representation of the factory and trade in its current state, Volume 4, Appendix and register for the representation of the factory and trade in the Austrian imperial state, Vienna 1824

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ von Keess 1820, page 188
  2. ↑ von Keess 1824, page 40
  3. ↑ Ernstberger 1963, page 103
  4. ↑ Pitsch 1847, page 60
  5. ↑ Pitsch 1847, page 60
  6. ↑ Heimatbuch Deutsch Gabel, page 61ff
personal data
SURNAME Ergert, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ergerth, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH German fork
DATE OF DEATH June 16, 1831
Place of death German fork