Anna Henriette Gossler (7 November 1771 – 2 August 1836) was a Hamburg banker, heiress and socialite.

Biography

Coat of arms of the Gossler family of Hamburg

Gossler was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Anna Henriette Gossler, who went by the name of Henriette, was a member of the

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...

Berenberg/ Gossler banking family, arguably the most prominent family of the then independent

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

of Hamburg alongside the related Amsinck family. She was the oldest daughter of the bankers

Johann Hinrich Gossler Johann Hinrich Gossler (born 18 August 1738 in Hamburg, died 31 August 1790 in Hamburg) was a German banker and grand burgher of Hamburg, a member of the Hanseatic Berenberg/Gossler banking dynasty and the owner and head of the firm Joh. Berenb ...

and

Elisabeth Berenberg Elisabeth Berenberg (2 December 1749 – 16 January 1822) was a Hamburg heiress, merchant banker and a member of the Berenberg family. She was the last male line member of the Flemish-origined Hanseatic Berenberg banking family in Hamburg, and anc ...

, owners of

Berenberg Bank Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, commonly known as Berenberg Bank and also branded as simply Berenberg, is a multinational full-service investment bank based in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded by the Flemish Berenberg family in 1590 () and ...

, which had been founded by her family in 1590. On 20 May 1788, she married her father's employee

Ludwig Erdwin Seyler Ludwig Erdwin Seyler (15 May 1758 – 26 October 1836; often known as ''L.E. Seyler'') was a German banker, merchant and politician. He was by marriage a member of the Hanseaten (class), Hanseatic Berenberg family, Berenberg banking dynasty, and wa ...

, who immediately was made a partner in the bank and remained so until his death nearly half a century later. After the death of her father in 1790 her husband became head of the company. Particularly in the years around the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

she and her husband played prominent roles in Hamburg high society and politics, and Berenberg Bank was headquartered in their private home.

Percy Ernst Schramm Percy Ernst Schramm (14 October 1894 – 21 November 1970) was a German historian who specialized in art history and medieval history. Schramm was a Chair and Professor of History at the University of Göttingen from 1929 to 1963. Early lif ...

(1963), ''Neun Generationen: Dreihundert Jahre deutscher Kulturgeschichte im Lichte der Schicksale einer Hamburger Bürgerfamilie (1648–1948)''. Göttingen. Volume I

: "Kaufleute während Besatzung, Krieg und Belagerung (1806–1815); der Hamburger Handel in der Franzosenzeit, dargestellt an Hand von Firmen- und Familienpapieren." In ''Tradition: Zeitschrift für Firmengeschichte und Unternehmerbiographie'', vol. 4, no 1 (February 1959), pp. 1–22. "II. Teil." In vol. 4, no. 2 (April 1959), pp. 88–114 She was the older sister of Hamburg senator

Johann Heinrich Gossler Johann Heinrich Gossler (born 28 March 1775, died 3 April 1842) was a Hamburg banker and grand burgher, a member of the Berenberg-Gossler-Seyler banking dynasty, a co-owner (from 1798) of the Berenberg Bank and a senator of Hamburg from 1821. He ...

and the aunt of Hamburg First Mayor (head of state)

Hermann Gossler Hermann Gossler (born 21 August 1802 in Hamburg, died 10 May 1877 in Hamburg) was a Hamburg lawyer, senator (1842–77) and First Mayor and President of the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (i.e. the city republic's head of state ...

. Her father-in-law was the theatre principal

Abel Seyler Abel Seyler (23 August 1730, Liestal – 25 April 1800, Rellingen) was a Swiss-born theatre director and former merchant banker, who was regarded as one of the great theatre principals of 18th century Europe. He played a pivotal role in the deve ...

, the leading patron of German theatre in the late 18th century. Her youngest daughter Henriette Seyler was married to the Norwegian industrialist

Benjamin Wegner Jacob Benjamin Wegner (21 February 1795 – 9 June 1864) was a Norwegian business magnate, estate owner and timber merchant. Born in Königsberg, East Prussia, he moved to London in 1819 and to Berlin in 1820, where he established an independ ...

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gossler, Anna Henriette Anna Henriette Berenberg Bank people 1771 births 1836 deaths