Wolf Curt von Schierbrand

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Lieutenant General Wolf Curt von Schierbrand (around 1867)

Wolf Curt von Schierbrand (born January 31, 1807 in Bautzen , † February 20, 1888 in Dresden ) was a royal Dutch officer, natural scientist and collector of zoological and ethnographic objects from Saxony . He supplied the then Royal Zoological and Anthropological-Ethnographic Museum in Dresden (today Museum für Tierkunde and Museum für Völkerkunde ) with numerous collection material from the area of ​​today's Indonesian island world and made decisive contributions to the efforts to find the various exhibits housed in various royal museums in this museum in Dresden, which was restructured under Adolf Bernhard Meyer in 1875.

Life

Wolf Curt von Schierbrand was the eldest of three sons of the royal Saxon major Reinhold Friedrich Ernst Heinrich von Schierbrand (1769-1817) from Kirchheiligen in Thuringia and his wife Christiane Friederike (1782-1832) from Bautzen, née Tietzen. The wholesale merchant Curt Thilo von Schierbrand (1808–1890) and the royal Saxon building officer Reinhold Curt von Schierbrand (1816–1857) were his younger brothers. He also had three sisters, of which his sister Ulrike (1810–70) was married to the head of the Dresden girls' school Gottlieb Immanuel Schöne (1794–1849). The philologist and literary historian Alfred Schöne , the later general director of the Royal Museums in Berlin Richard Schöne and the American journalist and author Wolf von Schierbrand were his nephews.

After attending public school in Leipzig from 1814 to 1820 and the subsequent Ritterakademie in Dresden Wolf Curt stepped off Schierbrand in Dutch East India Services and was here despite mediation of his friend with his father and already in the service of the Kingdom of the United Netherlands standing duke Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar not hired as an officer. After his engagement he had to serve himself from the bottom up and became a corporal in 1825 and a cadet in the engineering corps in 1826.

In the following years he was significantly involved in the topographical and economic development of the Indonesian island world, whereby his topographical recordings are considered pioneering achievements. He was also in charge of the construction of strategically important forts and port fortifications on the island of Java . In 1828 he was promoted to second lieutenant engineer, 1833 to first lieutenant, 1837 to captain, 1847 to major engineer and in 1850 with a simultaneous transfer to Batavia to lieutenant colonel.

In 1854, as a colonel, the entire genesis was subordinated to him. At the same time, he assumed the position of inspector of the sappers in Batavia. After he had met the formal requirements in 1862 and accepted Dutch citizenship, he was promoted to major general and in 1867 to lieutenant general. During this time he was in command of the colonial army.

During his service in the Dutch East Indies, Wolf Curt von Schierbrand supported research by scientists of different nationalities by organizing their stays, accompanying them on trips or arranging zoological, ethnographic and anthropological collections.

Since 1850 he sent extensive collections of mainly zoologica and from 1855 increasingly Javanese antiquities and ethnographics to Saxony (around 1,000 objects are proven). He transferred numerous exhibits to the collections of the Novara expedition (1857-1859) of the SMS Novara during their stay on Java.

In 1865 he was granted a two-year vacation in Europe, was promoted to lieutenant general in 1867 while still active and retired a short time later. After his retirement he lived at Johannisplatz 2 in Dresden until his death. He took an active part in social life here and was involved in various changes in the Dresden museum landscape to the end.

His report on his trips to Java from 1825–1826 was published posthumously in 1888 in an edition edited by his nephew Alfred Schöne.

In 1854 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Albrecht Order and in 1868 the Grand Cross of the Albrecht Order. He was still a Knight of the Royal Dutch Order of Lions , Commander of the Grand-Ducal Luxembourg Order of the Oak Crown and bearer of the Commander's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order .

Wolf Curt von Schierbrand was since 1854 honorary member of the natural science society ISIS in Dresden and was on August 24, 1865 with the academic surname Hans Sloane III. admitted as a member ( matriculation no. 2049 ) to the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina . His nickname was a reminiscence of the Irish medic, botanist, explorer and collector Hans Sloane .

August von Pelzeln named in his honor in 1865 to cuckooshrike Volvocivara Schierbrandi , considered a subspecies of today Coracina fimbriata schierbrandii ( Pelzeln provided, 1865).

Works

  • Topographic map of the Kadoe residence. Opgenomen ten according to Gouvernements Besluit van 1 Januarij 1860 n. 24 onder de leiding van den Kolonel Directeur der Genie WC von Schierbrand. Topographisch Bureau, s-Gravenhage 1870 ( digitized version )
  • with Alfred Schöne (editor): Travel report from Java from 1825–1826. Edited as a manuscript for family and friends by A. Schöne . Hartung, Königsberg 1888 ( digitized version )

literature

  • Petra Martin: What nature and man create in this strange tropical country ... Wolf Curt von Schierbrand and his collections . In: Small contributions from the Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden, 17, 1999, pp. 16–29
  • Petra Martin: Schierbrand, Wolf Curt von. In: Saxon Biography, ed. from the Institute for Saxon History and Folklore eV
  • Wolf Curt von Schierbrand: Brief biographical sketch for the Leopoldina . (Cover letter was sent to Carl Gustav Carus ), Dresden, July 18, 1866. In: Reisebericht aus Java ad J. 1825–1826. Edited as a manuscript for family and friends by A. Schöne . Hartung, Königsberg 1888, pp. 101–108 ( digitized version )
  • Willi Ule : History of the Imperial Leopoldine-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the years 1852–1887 . With a look back at the earlier times of its existence. Commissioned by Wilhelm Engelmann in Leipzig, Halle 1889, supplements and additions to Neigebaur's history, p. 200 ( archive.org ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Meeting reports and treatises of the scientific society ISIS in Dresden, year 1886, Dresden 1887, p. 8 ( digitized version )
personal data
SURNAME Schierbrand, Wolf Curt von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schierbrand, Wolf Kurt von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION royal Dutch officer, naturalist and collector of zoologica and ethnographic objects
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Bautzen
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1888
Place of death Dresden