Wilhelm von Kettler (General)

Wilhelm von Kettler

Coat of arms of the von Kettler family

Lübeck house of the regimental commander

Hermann Carl Wilhelm Freiherr von Kettler (born May 18, 1846 in Münster , † April 11, 1928 in Berlin ) was a Prussian lieutenant general .

Life

origin

Wilhelm came from the Westphalian noble family von Kettler . He was the son of the later Prussian Lieutenant General Karl von Kettler (1812-1893) and his wife Hedwig Maria, née Uken (1810-1864).

Military career

On May 31, 1864, Kettler joined the Kaiser Alexander Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 1 of the Prussian Army in Berlin as an avantageur . There he is on 17 August for the corporal and on October 18 for Sergeant promoted, as well as on 18 December Portepee - Ensign been appointed. He was appointed second lieutenant on April 12, 1866 and went to war with his regiment . With his regiment he took part in the battle of Thrush and the battle of Königgrätz . In the Franco-Prussian War he fought in the battle of St. Privat , Sedan and Le Bourget , as well as the enclosure and siege of Paris . His achievements were honored by being awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class.

On October 18, 1872, Kettler was promoted to prime lieutenant. As such, he went abroad for several years. There he was attached to the German consulate general in New York as a young lieutenant in the guards .

From April 30, 1877 to June 13, 1878, he was assigned as a company commander to the NCO school in Ettlingen . While being promoted to captain , he was transferred from here to the 6th Westphalian Infantry Regiment No. 55 and appointed company commander there. In the same capacity he was transferred to the Hessian Fusilier Regiment No. 80 in Wiesbaden on April 1, 1887 with a patent from June 13, 1877 . With his promotion to major , he joined his staff on February 16, 1889, and was appointed battalion commander on March 24, 1892 . On the occasion of the visit of Christian IX. , King of Denmark , in June 1893 in Wiesbaden the major received the Knight's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on May 14, 1894. After the visit to the emperor, followed by a parade on the Großer Sand near Mainz on August 26, 1895, Wilhelm II awarded the lieutenant colonel v. Kettler the Order of the Crown III. Class .

By a very high cabinet order of March 31, 1897, the Lübeck Battalion of the 2nd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 76 and the two IV half-battalions of the Mecklenburg Regiments No. 89 and No. 90, established in 1893, became that on April 1, 1897 3rd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 162 formed in Lübeck . On March 22nd, Kettler was promoted to colonel from April 1st and appointed first regimental commander. At the beginning of his term of office, the commander lived in the Hotel Stadt Hamburg there .

On June 16, 1900, Kettler was transferred to Stettin with his promotion to major general and at the same time being appointed commander of the 5th Infantry Brigade there . But a short time later, on July 9, Kettler was appointed commander of the 2nd East Asian Infantry Brigade of the China expedition . With her he took part in the suppression of the Boxer uprising and came u. a. in action at Kuang Tchang. After his return to Germany, Kettler was transferred to the army officers on September 16, 1901, before he was given command of the 28th Infantry Brigade in Düsseldorf on November 14, 1901 .

Kettler received his last position on April 24, 1904, when he was promoted to lieutenant general and commander of the 21st division in Frankfurt am Main . In recognition of his many years of military service, he was awarded the star with oak leaves and swords on the ring on September 15, 1905 for the Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd class with oak leaves and swords. With the statutory pension he was put up for disposal on February 13, 1906 . On the occasion of his 25th anniversary in government, Emperor Kettler awarded the Order of the Crown, First Class, in 1913 . It was no longer reused during the First World War .

family

Kettler had married Laura Seton (born August 11, 1855 in New York, † September 20, 1898 in Scheveningen ) in New York on April 29, 1875 . She was the daughter of the American Alfred Ludlow Seton (born October 15, 1825, † December 6, 1902). Her grandfather, Alfred Seton of Westchester, had explored the North American northwest from Fort Astoria , Oregon for an extended period of time in the early 1800s , before returning to New York on behalf of an entrepreneur Johann Jakob Astors , the Pacific Fur Company . The marriage had five children. His wife was buried on September 26, 1898 by garrison pastor Petersen in the Jacobi district of Lübeckisches Gottesackers in a grave for two.

The last person Kettler lived was at No. 180 Kurfürstendamm in Berlin . After his death, he was buried in the grave next to his wife in the churchyard, which has since been called the Burgtorfriedhof. The grave no longer exists. However, the former site of the grave (Jac J / 32 / I) was not re-occupied. Instead, a tree was planted on it.

literature

• von Loßberg: Officer master list of the Fusilier Regiment von Gersdorff (Kurhessischen) No. 80. 1813-1913. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1913, p. 102.
• Otto Dziobek : History of the Infantry Regiment Lübeck (3rd Hanseatic) No. 162. Verlag Gerhard Stalling , 1922 Oldenburg i. D., first edition, officers' association, formerly 162.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dermot Bradley (Ed.), Günter Wegner: Occupation of the German Army 1815-1939. Volume 1: The higher command posts 1815-1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1780-1 , p. 256.
2. ^ Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldatisches Führertum . Volume 7, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1939], DNB 367632829 , p. 473, no. 2418.
3. ↑ Hans Dechend : History of the Fusilier Regiment von Gersdorff (Hess.) No. 80: and his main regiment of the Kurhessian Liebgarde Regiment from 1632 to 1900. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1901, page 603/604.
4. ↑ Hans Dechend: History of the Fusilier Regiment von Gersdorff (Hess.) No. 80: and his regular regiment of the Kurhessian Liebgarde Regiment from 1632 to 1900. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1901, page 608.
5. ^ Military weekly paper . No. 47, May 24, 1902, pp. 1275-1283.
6. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 117 of September 21, 1905, p. 2690.
7. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 78/80 of June 16, 1913, p. 1821.
8. ^ Grace Church, New York, April 29, 1875
9. ↑ The Seton's of Parbroath Descent ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.