Count Carl Lazarus Henckel von Donnersmarck (March 5, 1772 – July 12, 1864) was a German businessman who, among other things, founded the mines founding amongst others the mines of

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

, which now house the

Silesian Museum Silesian Museum in Katowice (; ) is a museum in the city of Katowice, Poland. History The museum was founded in 1929 by the Silesian Sejm, while the region was recovering from the Silesian Uprisings. In the XX century interbellum, the Siles ...

Life

Karl Henckel von Donnersmarck was a member of the

Henckel von Donnersmarck The Henckel von Donnersmarck family is an Austro-German noble family that originated in the former region of Spiš in Upper Hungary (now in Slovakia). The founder of the family was Henckel de Quintoforo in the 14th century. The original seat of th ...

Austro-German noble family. Donnersmarck was the youngest son of Baron Erdmann Gustaw von Donnersmarck and Barroness Rudolphina von Dyherrn. Karl was married to Countess Julia von Bohlen. Among his children was

Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck Guido Henckel, 1st Prince of Donnersmarck (''Guido Georg Friedrich Erdmann Heinrich Adalbert''; born 10 August 1830 – 19 December 1916), previously Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, was a German nobleman, industrial magnate, member of the ...

(1830-1916), who would become a prince and industrial magnate.

Early career

During the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, Henckel founded and led a regiment of

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

Following the death of his brother Gustav Adolf in 1813, Henckel inherited the family estate in

Świerklaniec Świerklaniec (; ) is a village in Tarnowskie Góry County, in the Silesian Voivodeship of southwestern Poland. Formerly, from 1975 to 1998, Świerklaniec was a part of the Katowice Voivodeship. Geography Świerklaniec lies approximately east of ...

Honors and awards

He was awarded the Order of

Pour le Mérite The (; , ), also informally known as the ''Blue Max'' () after German WWI flying ace Max Immelmann, is an order of merit established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. Separated into two classes, each with their own designs, the was ...

and the highest Prussian

Order of the Black Eagle The Order of the Black Eagle () was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg (who became Friedrich I of Prussia, Friedrich I, King in Prussia, the ...

with Diamonds. He was the Commander and Senior of the

Order of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

(Protestant equivalent of the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...

). In 1840 he became a hereditary national senior grandfather in the Duchy of Silesia with the title of "Excellency". As a free statesman, he was a member of the Prussian House of Lords.

References

1772 births 1864 deaths Businesspeople from the Kingdom of Prussia Counts in Germany German mining businesspeople Carl Lazarus Members of the Prussian House of Lords People from Bytom Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Tarnowskie Góry County People from the Province of Silesia Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg) {{Germany-noble-stub