Count Richard Von Bienerth-Schmerling

Baron Richard von Bienerth, after 1915 Count von Bienerth-Schmeling (2 March 1863, in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

– 3 June 1918, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

), was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n statesman. He was the son of the Austrian Lieutenant-Field Marshal Karl von Bienerth (1825–1882) and a grandson on his mother's side of the Minister of State and later President of the High Court of Cassation

Anton von Schmerling Anton Ritter von Schmerling (23 August 180523 May 1893) was an Austrian statesman. Life Von Schmerling was born in Vienna, where his father held a high position on the judicial side of the civil service. After studying law at Vienna, in 1829 Sch ...

(1805−1893). Richard ''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

'' von Bienerth entered the service of the state in 1884 in the Styrian governorate, embarked on a civil servant's career after 1886 in the education ministry in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and from 1899 to 1905 was Vice-President of the

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

n school inspectorate. He took the reins of the education ministry on 11 September 1905 as section head in the cabinet of

Paul Gautsch von Frankenthurn Paul Gautsch Freiherr von Frankenthurn (26 February 1851 – 20 April 1918) was an Austrian statesman who served three times as Minister-President of Cisleithania. Biography Paul Gautsch was born in Döbling (a Vienna suburb incorporated in 189 ...

, a position he kept in the short-lived government of Prince Konrad of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst. In the cabinet of

Baron Max Wladimir von Beck Baron Max Wladimir von Beck (6 September 1854, in Vienna – 20 January 1943, in Vienna) was an Austrian statesman. Baron Max Wladimir von Beck was selected as the main motif of an Austrian collectors' coin, the 100 Years of Universal Male Suff ...

he was minister for the interior from 2 June 1906 to 15 November 1908 and worked on the electoral reform project (the introduction of universal male suffrage) of 1907. After Beck's downfall, Emperor

Franz Joseph I 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 ...

appointed Bienerth as prime minister, an office he held from 15 November 1908 to 28 June 1911. The government lost its parliamentary majority at the ''Reichsrat'' elections of June 1911, which brought heavy losses for the Christian Social Party and the ''Poland Club'', and Bienerth resigned as prime minister. He was then appointed as governor of

, succeeding Count Erich Kielmansegg. Despite suffering from an incurable disease, he remained in office until 28 November 1915. When he resigned as governor, the Emperor elevated him to the rank of Count. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bienerth, Richard 1863 births 1918 deaths 20th-century Ministers-President of Austria 19th-century Austrian people Ministers-President of Austria Austrian expatriates in Italy Counts of Austria Politicians from Verona category:Governors of Lower Austria (to 1918)