Gerrit Schimmelpenninck

Gerrit Schimmelpenninck

Gerrit Graf Schimmelpenninck (born February 25, 1794 in Amsterdam , † October 4, 1863 in Arnhem ) was a Dutch moderately liberal , later conservative politician and businessman. In 1848 he was chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Life

His father was Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck , who had been the head of the government as a pensioner and with whom the illegitimate branch of the Schimmelpennincks had been elevated to the rank of count . In 1845 Gerrit Schimmelpenninck wrote a biography of his father. He belonged to the Reformed Church .

Schimmelpenninck began studying law in 1812 , but broke it off when the Allied troops marched in during the wars of liberation in 1813 to protect his parents' estate in Diepenheim. After Schimmelpenninck u. a. headed the Dutch trading company, he switched to politics in 1832 and became a State Councilor, State Secretary and, from 1837, envoy in Saint Petersburg and later in London . From 1836 he held the rank of Minister of State.

Under the influence of the March Revolution in large parts of Europe, King Willem II called him back to Holland in March 1848 and Schimmelpenninck became chairman of the Council of Ministers. This was done not least to keep Johan Rudolf Thorbecke out of the government. His idea of ​​a constitution based on the British model, which u. a. was supposed to grant the king the sole right of appointment for life to the First Chamber of the States General , was rejected by the other ministers. He then submitted his resignation on May 14, 1848 and was again ambassador to London. After his return to Holland he was a member of the Second Chamber from 1853-1854 .

On May 28, 1819, he married Johanna von Knobelsdorff (* October 6, 1796; † June 15, 1852), daughter of the Prussian ambassador Wilhelm von Knobelsdorff . His son Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck van Nijenhuis also became finance minister and member of parliament.