Heinrich Adrian von Borcke

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Heinrich Adrian von Borke, engraving by Benjamin Glassbach
Heinrich Adrian Graf von Borcke, engraving by Johann Conrad Krüger after Anna Dorothea Therbusch

Heinrich Adrian Graf von Borcke (born April 4, 1715 in Stettin , † April 17, 1788 in Stargordt ; also Adrian Heinrich Graf von Borcke ) was a German officer in the Prussian service. He was the military educator of the future King Friedrich Wilhelm II and rose to the position of general of the cavalry .

origin

He was born as a member of the Pomeranian aristocratic family Borcke in Stettin , where his father, Adrian Bernhard von Borcke (* 1668; † 1741), was then governor; his father later rose to the rank of General Field Marshal and was raised to the rank of count in 1740 .

Life

Like his father before, he studied at universities before joining the Prussian army . In the army, Borcke was promoted to major in a cuirassier regiment when King Friedrich II appointed him military tutor to his nephew Friedrich Wilhelm (* 1744), later King Friedrich Wilhelm II. , In 1751 . In 1752 Borcke became an honorary member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences . Even in the so-called position as chief steward of the Prince Borcke moved in the army continues, and in 1755 Lieutenant Colonel 1759 Colonel and 1761 Major General . In 1756 Borcke also became a tutor to Friedrich Wilhelm's younger brother Heinrich (* 1747).

For the education of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, King Friedrich II had drafted an instruction in 1751, which is published in his works. In 1764 Borcke fell out of favor with the king. Because the king had learned that Borcke had recommended the prince as a principle: "A state can be made happier by maintaining peace than by waging the most victorious war". King Frederick II, who had waged the Silesian Wars from 1740 to 1763 , was not happy about this; Borcke had to give up his position as prince tutor and leave for his goods, but his salary continued to be paid.

Even if the king no longer thought of Borcke from a military point of view, he valued him as a country gentleman and because of his efforts to improve the economy. Borcke was the spokesman for a delegation from the Pomeranian nobility who traveled to King Friedrich II in Potsdam in order to win him over to founding a mortgage bond bank. This was successful and in 1781 the Pomeranian Landscape was founded as the third landscape credit institute in Prussia.

Stargordt Castle around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

When Borcke's former pupil Friedrich Wilhelm finally became king, he honored him in 1786 by being promoted to lieutenant general , with a certificate of appointment formally postponed by 11½ years, as well as by being awarded the Order of the Black Eagle and in 1787 by further promotion to general of the cavalry . Heinrich Adrian Graf von Borcke died in 1788 on his Stargordt estate near Regenwalde .

family

He married on July 23, 1743 in Monbijou Helene Wilhelmine Henriette von Brand (* March 20, 1718 - May 11, 1770), ine daughter of the minister Christian von Brand . The couple had several children:

  • Friedrich Heinrich Christian (July 3, 1744; † June 4, 1790) ⚭ 1769 Dorothea Friederike Catharina Mellin (* December 12, 1744 in Stettin; † July 1, 1794), daughter of Georg Bernhard Petrus von Mellin
  • Hans Heinrich
  • Christian Friedrich

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personal data
SURNAME Borcke, Heinrich Adrian von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Borcke, Heinrich Adrian Graf von (full name); Borcke, Adrian Heinrich Graf von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and prince tutor
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1715
PLACE OF BIRTH Szczecin
DATE OF DEATH April 17, 1788
Place of death Stargordt