Friedrich ''Wilhelm'' Graf von Lepel (25 April 1774, Fürstenwalde/Spree - 9 January 1840, Rome) was a Prussian major general. His parents came from the von Lepel family, a noble family from Pommerania. He had four siblings - Dietrich (1767–1815), Catharina (1769–1833), Wilhelmine (1781–1795) and Adolph (1783–1847).''Historisch-Genealogisches Handbuch der Familie v. Lepel (Lepell).'' S. 142–144. He served as adjutant to Prince Henry of Prussia (1781-1846), younger brother of

Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...

Life

Wilhelm began his military career in 1787 as a Gefreiter-Korporal in the 1st von Legat Fusilier Battalion (Number 20). In 1810 he married Charlotte ''Isabella'' Ulrike

von Blumenthal The von Blumenthal family are Lutheran and Roman Catholic German nobility, originally from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them Je ...

(1778–1828). He served in the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the Kingdom of France (1791-92), constitutional Kingdom of France and then t ...

as a Second Lieutenant then from 1812 as a Major in the Prussian force attached to Napoleon's army for the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...

. For commanding four squadrons in the victory before

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

(before the unsuccessful Siege of Riga), Wilhelm was granted the

Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by Frederick the Great, King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Or ...

on 4 September 1812 and awarded the Cross of the

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

by Napoleon. In 1813 he became Prince Henry of Prussia's aide de campe and with him he fought against Napoleon at the

battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...

. Henry and Wilhelm arrived in Paris together at the end of the campaign and from 1816 until his death Wilhelm served as his adjutant in Rome. In 1833 Wilhelm married the Englishwoman Fanny Agnew (1799–1852) - both his marriages were childless. On 16 March 1838, his fiftieth anniversary of joining up, Frederick William III made Wilhelm a count in the nobility of Prussia.

Bibliography

* ''Historisch-Genealogisches Handbuch der Familie v. Lepel (Lepell).'' Auf der Grundlage familiengeschichtlicher Quellen erarbeitet durch Andreas Hansert und Oskar Matthias Frhr. v. Lepel unter Mitarbeit von Klaus Bernhard Frhr. v. Lepel und Herbert Stoyan. Deutsches Familienarchiv, Band 151, Verlag Degener & Co., Inhaber Manfred Dreiss, Insingen 2008, Seite 142–144,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lepel, Friedrich Wilhelm von 1774 births 1840 deaths Prussian Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Recipients of the Legion of Honour Major generals of Prussia Military personnel from Brandenburg