Carl Heinrich von Siemens (often just Carl von Siemens) (3 March 1829 – 21 March 1906) was a German entrepreneur. He was born in Menzendorf,

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

, one of the fourteen children of a

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

of the Siemens family, an old family of

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mi ...

, documented since 1384. He was a brother of

Ernst Werner von Siemens Ernst Werner Siemens (von Siemens from 1888; ; ; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He foun ...

and

William Siemens Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens (4 April 1823 – 19 November 1883), anglicised to Charles William Siemens, was a German-British electrical engineer and businessman. Biography Siemens was born in the village of Lenthe, today part of Gehrden, near Ha ...

, sons of Christian Ferdinand Siemens (31 July 1787 – 16 January 1840) and wife Eleonore Deichmann (1792 – 8 July 1839). They had two more brothers, Hans Siemens (1818–1867) and Friedrich August Siemens (December 8, 1828-May 24, 1904), married and father to Friedrich Carl Siemens (6 January 1877 – 25 June 1952 in

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 constitu ...

), married on May 22, 1920 in

to Melanie Bertha Gräfin Yorck von Wartenburg (1 February 1899 in Klein Oels – 15 May 1950 in

) (the parents of Heinrich Werner Andreas Siemens (born 28 September 1921) Annabel Siemens (born 3 May 1923), Daniela Siemens (born 31 July 1926) and Peter Siemens (born 8 November 1928). In 1853, Carl Siemens traveled to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

where he established the branch office of his brothers company

Siemens & Halske Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens. It was founded on 12 October 1847 as ''Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske'' by Werner von Siemens and Johann Ge ...

. Siemens had a contract for constructing the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

network at the time. Carl went to Britain in 1869, where he assisted his brother

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

. In the 1880s, he returned to Russia before he became the senior chief executive of ''Siemens & Halske'' after the death of his brother Werner in 1892. He resigned in 1904. For his service to Russia, he was ennobled by

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pol ...

in 1895. His grave is preserved in the ''Friedhof III der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde'' (Cemetery No. III of the congregations of Jerusalem's Church and New Church) in

Berlin-Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it has b ...

, south of Hallesches Tor. He died in

Menton Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

References

*''Shaping the Future. The Siemens Entrepreneurs 1847–2018.'' Ed. Siemens Historical Institute, Hamburg 2018, . *Martin Lutz: ''Carl von Siemens 1829–1906. A life between Family and World Firm.'' Munich 2013, .

External links

Lifelines: Carl von Siemens. Vol. 2, ed. Siemens Historical Institute, Munich 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siemens, Carl Heinrich von 1829 births 1906 deaths 19th-century German people Businesspeople from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania German industrialists Prussian nobility People from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Carl Heinrich Carl Heinrich (1880 New York City – 1955) was an American entomologist. Life He studied Greek and drama at the University of Chicago, he moved to Washington D.C., in 1902, where he worked in business. In 1908, he went to New York to study musi ...

German expatriates in Russia