Arthur Heinrich Rudolph Johnson Hobrecht (14 August 1824 – 7 July 1912) was a German liberal politician, mayor of Breslau (Wrocław) and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Hobrecht served as Prussian minister of Finances under

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

and was a member of the

Prussian House of Representatives The Prussian House of Representatives (german: Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus) was the lower chamber of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the upper house, the House of ...

and the

German Parliament The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...

Biography

Hobrecht was born in Kobierczyn,

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

(Kobierzyn, Poland) to Ludolf Hobrecht. His mother, née Johnson, was of English descent. Hobrecht studied law at the Universities of Königsberg (Kaliningrad),

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and Halle. From 1841 to 1844 he worked at courts in Elbing (Elbląg), Graudenz (Grudziądz) and

Marienwerder Kwidzyn (pronounced ; german: Marienwerder; Latin: ''Quedin''; Old Prussian: ''Kwēdina'') is a town in northern Poland on the Liwa River, with 38,553 inhabitants (2018). It is the capital of Kwidzyn County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Geogra ...

(Kwidzyn) in West Prussia and was deputy head of the district administration in

Rybnik Rybnik (Polish pronunciation: ; szl, Rybńik) is a city in southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, around 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Katowice, the region's capital, and around 19 km (11 miles) from the Czech border. It is ...

and Grottkau (Grodków) in

Prussian Silesia The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...

from 1847 to 1849. Until 1860 he held several administrative positions in Posen (Poznan),

Gleiwitz Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the re ...

(Gliwice) and Marienwerder. In 1860 Hobrecht began to work at the

Prussian Ministry of the Interior This page lists Prussian Ministers of the Interior. Prussian Ministers of the Interior, 1808–1934 * Count Alexander von Dohna-Schlobitten 1808–1810 * Count Karl August von Hardenberg 1810–1814 * Count Friedrich von Schuckmann 1814–1819 * ...

. In 1863 he became mayor of Breslau, as such also a member of the Prussian House of Lords. Hobrecht succeeded Carl Theodor Seydel as

mayor of Berlin The Governing Mayor (german: Regierender Bürgermeister) of Berlin is the head of government, presiding over the Berlin Senate. As Berlin is an independent city as well as one of the constituent States of Germany (''Bundesländer''), the office i ...

in 1873. His younger brother

James Hobrecht James Friedrich Ludolf Hobrecht (31 December 1825 in Memel – 8 September 1902 in Berlin) was a Prussian director for urban planning. His development plan of 1862 for a million-sized Berlin was soon to be simply called the Hobrecht-Plan. His ...

already served as head of Berlin's municipal planning administration and was responsible for the so-called

Hobrecht-Plan The Hobrecht-Plan is the binding land-use plan for Berlin in the 19th century. It is named after its main editor, James Hobrecht (1825–1902), who served for the royal Prussian urban planning police ("Baupolizei"). The finalized plan "Bebauun ...

, which coined the modern structure of the city of Berlin. His attempts to incorporate the suburbs of

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

and

Köpenick Köpenick () is a historic town and locality (''Ortsteil'') in Berlin, situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopt ...

and the districts of

Teltow Teltow [] is a town in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. Geography Teltow is part of the agglomeration of Berlin. The distance to the Berlin city centre is , while the distance to Potsdam is . The Teltow Canal links the ...

in the south and

Niederbarnim Barnim () is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) Poland, the district of Märkisch-Oderland, the city state of Berlin and the districts of Oberhavel and Uckermark. History The name "Barnim" emerge ...

in the north into Berlin's administration were unsuccessful and led to his resignation in 1878. He then served as Prussian minister of finances from 1878 to 1879 but soon came into conflict with Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. After his dismissal he ran for the German National Liberal Party and was elected a member of the Prussian House of Representatives in 1880, a mandate he would hold until his death in 1912. Hobrecht also became a member of the

German Reichstag The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...

, representing the Marienwerder 1 constituency from 1881 to 1884 and Marienwerder 3 from 1886 to 1890. On his 80th birthday, 14 August 1904, Hobrecht became an Honorary citizen of Berlin. He died on 7 July 1912 in

Lichterfelde (Berlin) Lichterfelde () is a locality in the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf in Berlin, Germany. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Steglitz, along with Steglitz and Lankwitz. Lichterfelde is home to institutions like the Berlin Botanical Ga ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobrecht, Arthur 1824 births 1912 deaths People from Gdańsk County People from West Prussia German people of English descent University of Königsberg alumni Leipzig University alumni University of Halle alumni Mayors of Berlin Mayors of Breslau Members of the Prussian House of Lords National Liberal Party (Germany) politicians Members of the Prussian House of Representatives Members of the 5th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 7th Reichstag of the German Empire