Friedrich August Ludwig, Graf von Bismarck (''from 1862'' von Bismarck-Schierstein) (19 August 1809 – 16 April 1893) was a German lawyer and Member of Parliament.

Early life

Bismarck was born on 19 August 1809 in Biebrich,

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

into the Rhineland branch of the

Schönhausen Schönhausen (Low Saxon: ''Schöönhusen'') is a municipality in the district of Stendal in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Elbe-Havel-Land. Geography The village is situated on a ...

line of the House of Bismarck. He was the eldest son of Johann Heinrich Ludwig von Bismark (1774–1816) and his wife Anna Maria von Breidbach zu Bürresheim (1789–1871). Among his siblings were Countess Auguste Antonie Luise (wife of Baron Hans Carl von Thüngen), Countess Franziska Friederike Sophie Charlotte (wife of Count Karl von Giech), and Count Karl Friedrich Alexander von Bismarck. His paternal grandfather was Heinrich Christian von Bismarck. In 1830, with the permission of the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

William I of Württemberg, he was adopted by his uncle

Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Bismarck (28 July 1783 – 18 June 1860) was a German lieutenant general, diplomat and military writer. He wrote several major military-political works and military histories, which were very pro-Napoleon. Life He was ...

, and permitted to use the title of

Count of Württemberg Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Career

Friedrich completed his law studies and entered the service of the Prussian state. He later became a

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

government and legation councilor, and was also a chamberlain. From 1846 to 1847, he was a member of the House of Lords (Herrenbank) of the Estates of Nassau as representative of Prince Philipp von der Leyen (grandson of Philip Francis, Prince of Leyen) and, from 1855 to 1857, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (Landesdeputiertenversammlung) as representative of Archduke Stephen of Austria. In 1862, he was created

Graf (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "coun ...

Bismarck-Schierstein by

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...

of Prussia. In 1866 he was their envoy to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...

of the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

. In

Bad Ems Bad Ems () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Rhein-Lahn rural district and is well known as a spa on the river Lahn. Bad Ems is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' (administrative community) Bad E ...

he served as bathing inspector during the spa period and director of the bathing establishments from 1855 to 1866.

Personal life

On 14 June 1847, Bismarck married the English born Charlotte Henrietta Williams-Wynn (1815–1873) in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

where her father, Sir Henry Williams-Wynn, was serving as British Envoy to Denmark. Together, they were the parents of: * Gräfin ''Marie'' Henriette Katharina von Bismarck-Schierstein (b. 1848). * Gräfin ''Helene'' Auguste Wilhelmine von Bismarck-Schierstein (1850–1903), who married Maj. Wilfred Joseph Cripps, son of

William Cripps William Cripps (1 January 1805 – 11 May 1848) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament. Early life Cripps was born 1 January 1805 and baptised at Cirencester on 17 May 1805. He was the eldest son of Joseph Cripps, and, his second wife, ...

, MP for Cirencester. * Graf ''Henry'' von Bismarck-Schierstein (1852–1871), who died unmarried. * Graf Otto ''Franz'' Karl von Bismarck-Schierstein (1854–1910), a lieutenant in the

Landwehr ''Landwehr'', or ''Landeswehr'', is a German language term used in referring to certain national army, armies, or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large-scale, low-strength fortif ...

cavalry. Count Bismarck died on 16 April 1893 in Wiesbaden-Schierstein. The title passed to his son but became extinct upon his death in 1910.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bismarck, Friedrich von 1809 births 1893 deaths German nobility Counts of Württemberg