Joseph L. Meyer

Joseph Lambert Meyer (born June 15, 1846 in Papenburg / Ems ; † March 30, 1920 there ) was an Emsland shipyard owner of the traditional Meyer shipyard .

life and work

The son of the Papenburg shipyard owner Franziskus Wilms Meyer and Johanna Pauls Breymann, after completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter at his father's shipyard in 1866, gained experience in shipbuilding in the USA for a year. Meyer then trained from 1867 to 1869 at the shipbuilding school in Grabow near Stettin to become a master shipbuilder. On January 25, 1870 he entered the service of the " Stettiner-Maschinenbau Actien-Gesellschaft Vulcan " and worked until March 21, 1872 as an engineer in the company's shipbuilding department.

Back in Papenburg he found himself in the middle of a serious crisis, triggered by the change from wooden to steel ships. Meyer's father's shipyard no longer flourished either. When the owner died in 1876 and his eldest son a year later, it was closed. With new capital and engineers, Joseph L. Meyer began production on May 12, 1872 in Papenburg at the iron shipyard, iron foundry and machine factory "Barth & Meyer", which is run as a general partnership.

The course of business made it possible as early as 1878 that Barth withdrew his stake in the shipyard and from then on only operated under the name “Jos. L. Meyer ”was named. The shipyard flourished and Meyer also increasingly received public contracts, especially for special ships for the German colonial areas. The company grew steadily. In 1880 the workforce comprised 62, in 1890 even 216 employees. By the outbreak of World War I, their number rose to around 400. In doing so, he laid the foundations for the Meyer Werft in Papenburg, which is still flourishing today. Meyer died on March 30, 1920 as a result of a flu-like infection. Up to this point in time, almost 340 ships had been built at the shipyard he founded.

Political activity

For a time Meyer was politically active in a leading position within the union of national liberal forces in Papenburg. He stood in sharp contrast to the rest of the Catholic population of Papenburg, which unanimously supported the Center Party , which was massively opposed by the government-affiliated National Liberal Party . Meyer also acted as 1st chairman of the Papenburg local group of the " German Fleet Association "

family

Joseph Lambert Meyer was first married to Gertrud Mammes from Papenburg and was married to Thekla Rotering second. He was a Roman Catholic denomination.

The first marriage had five children:

• Joseph-Franz Meyer, shipyard owner
• Bernhard Meyer, shipyard owner
• Joseph Meyer, senior councilor in Bückeburg
• Johanna Meyer
• Marianne Meyer.

His great-grandson is Bernard Meyer (* 1948), a son of Joseph-Franz Meyer.

literature

• Rolf Eilers / Klaus-Peter Kiedel: Meyer Werft - Six Generations of Shipbuilding in Papenburg 1795–1988
• Handbook of the German Fleet Association (e.V.) , Berlin 1909, p. 104.
• Rainer Hehemann: Meyer, Josef Lambert. In: Rainer Hehemann (edit.): Biographical manual for the history of the Osnabrück region. Edited by the Osnabrück Regional Association, Bramsche 1990, p. 199.
• Klaus-Peter Kiedel: "Build, ship confidently, never lose heart!" - Papenburg shipping in four centuries. In: Wolf-Dieter Mohrmann (ed.): History of the city of Papenburg. Papenburg 1986, pp. 265-317.
• Klaus-Peter Kiedel: From river paddle steamer to cruise liner - passenger shipbuilding at the Jos shipyard. L. Meyer 1874-1986. In: Emsland / Bentheim: Contributions to modern history. Vol. 2, Sögel 1986, pp. 173-288.
• Klaus-Peter Kiedel:  Meyer, Joseph Lambert. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 356 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Klaus-Peter Kiedel: Meyer, Joseph Lambert. In: Emsländische Geschichte Vol. 7. Ed. By the Study Society for Emsländische Regionalgeschichte, Dohren 1998, pp. 200–205.
• Walter Killy / Rudolf Vierhaus: German Biographical Encyclopedia (DBE). Vol. 7, Munich 1998, p. 107.