Rt. Hon. Field Marshal Baron Johan de Fin (1800–1887), was Chamberlain to

Franz Josef Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

, Emperor of Austria, an officer in the British German Legion, and Conservator of Forests in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

Biography

Johan de Fin, also known as Jean de Fin, was born 15 September 1800 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. De Fin married Marie Eleonore d'Auersperg on 15 August 1827. De Fin came to Kaffraria in 1857 with the British German Legion, and founded the German Legion town of

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

at the mouth of the Keiskamma River. Soon after the re-incorporation of

British Kaffraria British Kaffraria was a British colony/subordinate administrative entity in present-day South Africa, consisting of the districts now known as Qonce and East London. It was also called Queen Adelaide's Province. The British Kaffraria was establish ...

in 1865 he was appointed as Forest Ranger and continued serving in this post until about 1880. He lived at Rabula and in Keiskammahoek, where he acted as conservator and magistrate's clerk.''Forest Flora of the Cape Colony'' - Thomas R. Sim (1907) De Fin died on 15 April 1887 in Keiskammahoek. An oak tree at Stutterheim which was planted in 1838 was named after de Fin in 1934.

References

Cape Colony people Colonial Forest Service officers 1800 births 1887 deaths Austrian foresters South African foresters {{forester-stub