William Motherby

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Dr. Motherby, copy after the miniature by August Grahl in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister , around 1832

William Motherby (born September 12, 1776 in Königsberg , † January 16, 1847 ibid) was a doctor and farmer in East Prussia .

Life

Like his father, the merchant Robert Motherby , he belonged to Immanuel Kant's circle of friends . William was still very young when he studied in Koenigsberg and decided to study medicine. In Edinburgh he received his doctorate in medicine, was a respected doctor in Konigsberg, and had made a contribution to the introduction of the cowpox vaccination , to which he contributed two writings.

Motherby's house was considered a center of intellectual conviviality. William's circle of friends included many well-known personalities. His wife Johanna in particular exerted a strong attraction, such as Wilhelm von Humboldt since 1809 and Ernst Moritz Arndt , as evidenced by a long correspondence. Johanna Motherby later divorced and was married to the physician Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach from 1824 to 1833 .

Motherby gradually devoted himself entirely to agriculture, founded the East Prussian Association for the Promotion of Agriculture and was ultimately its director. He came forward with a pamphlet on the benefits of horse meat . From 1827 to 1847 William Motherby was the owner of Gut Arnsberg .

One year after Kant's death in 1804, he suggested the memorial meal on the philosopher's birthday, at which his table friends, as the Society of Friends of Kant, gathered every year for the bean meal . By election, this circle is constantly being added to the present day, even after the loss of Königsberg. After 1945, the Friends of Kant met regularly on April 22, first in Göttingen, from 1974 in Mainz ( Rudolf Malter ) and since 2008 again in Königsberg.

family

William Motherby married Johanna Charlotte born in 1806. Tillheim, 1783–1842 from Königsberg, with whom he had two children: Anna, called Nancy, born in 1807, and Robert Motherby , who was named after his grandfather and how his father became a doctor and farmer.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Labeling of the portrait: Copy of the miniature in the Royal Picture Gallery, portrait of the Königsberg doctor Dr. Motherby, No. 198 F., Fach A. Dr. William Motherby b. 1776 died 1847, owner of Arnsberg 1827-47, owner of the portrait of Robert Motherby [stamped next to it: "Motherby Königsberg (Pr) Körteallee 34"], Königsberg .... (day and month illegible) 1911.
  2. ^ Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung 2009
personal data
SURNAME Motherby, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Doctor and farmer in East Prussia
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1776
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1847
Place of death Koenigsberg