William de Gillern

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Joseph Wilhelm von Gillern , also William de Gillern esq. named (born November 15, 1788 in Halle (Saale) ; † November 2, 1857 in Hobart , Tasmania ) was a Prussian and later British officer and civil servant in Tasmania.

Life

In Europe

Wilhelm von Gillern came from the Silesian noble family Gillern and joined the infantry regiment "Duke of Braunschweig" as a young man . In this regiment, as a second lieutenant , he experienced the defeat of the Prussians at Jena and Auerstedt (1806). His regiment was disbanded on October 28, 1806.

In 1809 Gillern joined the corps of the Black Duke , the so-called Black Band, near Náchod ( Bohemia ) . During the corps' baptism of fire, the storming of Zittau on July 24, 1809, Gillern was wounded in the hand. In mid-August 1809, the corps had to evade over the English Channel to England before a French superior force approached . There the corps was incorporated into the British Army and renamed "Brunswick Oels Jägers" . During this time, Wilhelm met his future wife, Harriet, an Englishwoman.

During the Peninsula Wars , Gillern fought with the "Brunswick Oels Jägers" in Portugal , Spain and - now with the rank of major in the 1st line - battalion - in France until Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo . After the war he returned to England to marry Harriet. With her he traveled in 1823 on the ship Courier to Van Diemen's Land, today's Tasmania. He was now called William de Gillern.

In Tasmania

Gillern first acquired land in northern Tasmania and tried in 1824/25 with the "Constantia Distillery" on the small river New Town Rivulet near Hobart to distill and sell whiskey , but failed because of an increase in alcohol tax in January 1825. He sold his property "Lake River" and acquired the property "Glen Ayr" near Richmond . In 1843, however, a large part of the farm was destroyed by fire and since Gillern was not insured, he had to give up the property "Glen Ayr" again.

Gillern then entered the civil service and in 1843 became head of the "Rocky Hills Probation Station", a kind of probation prison for offenders. In this position he led the construction of the famous stone bridges along the coastal road (including the famous "Spiky Bridge").

Gillern lived with his wife in Melrose in 1848 and in Longford in 1850 . In 1851 he became a summons officer and in 1854 a magistrate of the Lower Civil Court in Longford. In 1856 he returned to Hobart to serve as the Commander of the Parliament Guard when the Tasmanian Parliament first met. However, his term of office was short; he died in November 1857.

William de Gillern was buried in St. David's cemetery. His wife lived for 15 years after his death.

Honors

After Major William de Gillern esq. two places are named: “De Gillern Place” in Richmond (Tasmania) and “De Gillern Place” in Canberra (Australia); and a beach at Rocky Hills on Tasmania's east coast "De Gillern Beach".

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gustav von Kortzfleisch: History of the Duke Braunschweig Infantry Regiment and its main troops 1809-1902. Braunschweig 1896-1903, Volume 1, p. 341.
  2. ↑ EA Wilhelm Dijou of Monteton, History of the Royal Prussian Sixth Cuirassier Regiment , S. 219th
personal data
SURNAME Gillern, William de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gillern, Wilhelm von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Silesian settler in Tasmania (from 1823)
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1788
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH November 2, 1857
Place of death Hobart , Tasmania