Count Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (10 August 1797 – 9 October 1854) was a Finnish nobleman, amateur

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

and governor of the

Viipuri province Viipuri Province was a Historical provinces of Finland, historical province of Finland from 1812 to 1945. History The predecessor of the province was Vyborg Governorate, which was established in 1744 from territories ceded by the Swedish Empi ...

in the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...

. He collected beetles from across the Arctic region from Alaska to Russia through northern Scandinavia making use of a network of aristocratic amateurs and Finnish settlers resulting in a personal collection of nearly 100000 specimens of beetles representing 20,000 species made over a period of 40 years.

Life and career

Mannerheim was born in

Askainen Askainen (; ) is a former municipality of Finland. Together with Lemu, it was consolidated with Masku on January 1, 2009. It is located in southwestern part of the country in the Varsinais-Suomi region. The municipality had a population of 9 ...

, the son of Vendla Sofia von Willebrand and Count

Carl Erik Mannerheim Count Carl Erik Mannerheim (14 December 1759 – 15 January 1837) was a Swedish–Finnish soldier, statesman and member of the Senate of Finland as its first Vice Chairman of the Economic Division, an office corresponding to that of the ...

(1759–1837), the first vice-chairman of the finance ministry of the senate, now equivalent to being the Prime Minister of Finland. He graduated from the University of Turku in 1819 where he was influenced by the teaching of C. R. Sahlberg. Shortly after graduating he became the secretary to the

Finnish Minister Secretary of State Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. In 1833 he was appointed governor of the

Vaasa Province The Province of Vaasa ( ; , , Sweden ; ) was a province of Finland, established in 1775 when Finland was an integrated part of Sweden from the southern part of Ostrobothnia County and disbanded in 1996. The province was named after the city of V ...

and soon after of Viipuri and Savonlinna County. From 1835 he served as the

chief judge Chief judge may refer to: In lower or circuit courts The highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. * Chief judge (Australia) * Chief judge (United States) In supreme courts Some of Chief ...

of the newly formed Imperial

Court of Appeals An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellat ...

(“Kayserlichen Hofgerichtes”, hovioikeus) in

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

Scientific contributions

Mannerheim devoted much of his time to natural sciences and acquired a significant scientific collection of

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

. He published many papers concerning them and worked on the collections of the natural history museums of

Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

Saint-Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. He contributed greatly to the knowledge of the coleopteran fauna of western North America (then

Russian America Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

). Through a network of aristocratic collectors across Finland, Sweden and Russia, he amassed a collection of 100,000 specimens representing 20,000 species over a 4-decade period. His mentor was

Carl Reinhold Sahlberg Carl Reinhold Sahlberg (January 22, 1779, Eura – October 18, 1860, Yläne) was a Finland, Finnish natural history, naturalist, primarily an Entomology, entomologist specializing in beetles. He was the father of entomologist Reinhold Ferdinand S ...

(1779–1860) whose son

Reinhold Ferdinand Sahlberg Reinhold Ferdinand Sahlberg (23 December 1811, Åbo – 18 March 1874, Yläne) was a Finnish naturalist notably specialising in entomology. He was the son of the entomologist and botanist Carl Reinhold Sahlberg (1774–1860) and the father of th ...

(1811–1874) remained a close associate. The interest in the region from Russia to Alaska was begun by

Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz (1 November 1793 – 7 May 1831)Sterling (1997) was a Baltic German physician, naturalist, and entomologist. He was one of the earliest scientific explorers of the Pacific region, making significant collec ...

(1793–1831). Mannerheim made use of Finnish settlers in Sitka and other places to collect insects for him. He published on the insects from his collections in four monographs and other minor publications. He also collaborated with other zoologists including Fredrik Wilhelm Mäklin, Viktor I. Motschulsky, and Edouard Ménétriés. Mäklin named a genus of staphylind beetle '' Mannerheimia arctica'' after him. Other beetles named after him include '' Rhynchites mannerheimii'' Hummel, 1823 (Attelabidae); '' Bembidium mannerheimii'' Sahlbeg, 1827 (Carabidae); '' Haltica mannerheimii'' Gyllenhal, 1827 (Chrysomelidae); '' Oxyporus mannerheimii'' Gyllenhal, 1827 (Staphylinidae); '' Nebria mannerheimii'' Fischer von Waldheim, 1828 (Carabidae); '' Anchomenus mannerheimii'' Dejean, 1828 (Carabidae); '' Agaocephala mannerheimii'' Castelnau, 1832 (Scarabaeidae); and '' Dermestes mannerheimii'' LeConte, 1854 (Dermestidae). A fly '' Dolichopus mannerheimi'' was also named after him by

Zetterstedt Johan Wilhelm Zetterstedt (20 May 1785 – 23 December 1874) was a Swedish naturalist who worked mainly on Diptera and Hymenoptera. Biography Zetterstedt studied at the University of Lund, where he was a pupil of Anders Jahan Retzius. He receiv ...

in 1838.

Publications

* Mannerheim, C. G. von. 1825. ''Novae coleopterorum species imperii Rossici incolae descriptae'', in Hummel, Essais entomologiques, 1(4):19-41. * Mannerheim, C. G. von. 1837. ''Enumération des Buprestides, et description de quelques nouvelles espèces de cette tribu de la famille des Sternoxes, de la collection de M. Le Comte Mannerheim. ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou 8:1-126. * Mannerheim, C. G. von. 1837. ''Mémoire sur quelques genres et espèces de Carabiques'' * Mannerheim, C. G. von. 1844. ''Description de quelques nouvelles espèces de Coléoptères de Finlande'' * Mannerheim, C. G. von. 1843.''Mémoire sur la récolte d'insectes coléoptères faite en 1842'' *Mannerheim, C. G. von. 1843.'' Beitrag zur Käferfauna der Aleutischen Inseln, der Insel Sitkha und Neu-Californiens''. Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou 16:3–142. * Mannerheim, C. G. von. 1844.'' Lettre a S. E. Mr. Fischer de Waldheim ou relation d un voyage fait en 1844, en Suede, en Danemarck et dans nord de l'Allemagne.'' Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, 17: 844–872. *Mannerheim, C. G. von. 1852. ''Insectes Coléoptères de la Sibérie orientale nouveaux ou peu connus.'' Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou, 25:273–309. *Mannerheim, C. G. von. 1853. ''Dritter Nachtrag zur Kefer-Fauna der Nord-Amerykanischen Laender der Russischen Reiches.'' Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou, 3:3–181.

Societies and organizations

Mannerheim was a member of the

St Petersburg Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

(1827) and of the

Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters (, , ) is a Finnish learned society for natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. It is a bilingual (Swedish and Finnish) science academy and the oldest of the four science academies in Finland. ...

(1838) and a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

(1852). He was decorated with the Cross of the

Order of Saint Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus (, ), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Congress Poland, Kingdom of Pola ...

and was made a knight of the

Order of Saint Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine the Great, Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev, Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of ...

Personal life

Mannerheim married Eva Wilhelmina von Schantz; they had a son

Carl Robert Mannerheim Count Carl Robert Mannerheim (1 February 1835 – 9 October 1914) was a Finnish aristocrat and businessman. He was the son of naturalist Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, and father of Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. Biography Mannerheim wrote the ...

, who was an aristocrat and businessman. Carl Robert's son Baron

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military commander, aristocrat, and statesman. He served as the military leader of the White Guard (Finland), Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as List of ...

(1867–1951) became Marshal and President of Finland. Their daughter Anna (1840–???) married the explorer Baron

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (; 18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the noble Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friherre (ba ...

(1832–1901).

References

External links

The Mannerheim family

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mannerheim, Carl Gustaf 1797 births 1854 deaths People from Masku 19th-century Finnish nobility 19th-century Swedish nobility Finnish entomologists Carl Gustaf Mannerheim Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish people of German descent Coleopterists Entomologists from the Russian Empire