Hermann Friedrich Alexander Dechend, in 1865 ennobled as von Dechend (2 April 1814 – 30 April 1890), was a senior

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n civil servant and politician who served as the first President of the Reichsbank.

Biography

Dechend was born in Marienwerder,

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

(today Kwidzyn, Poland), the son of a lawyer, Theodor Dechend. He passed his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

(school leaving examination) in Marienwerder and studied law and Cameralism at the universities of Berlin and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

. Dechend began his professional career at the local court and in the city council of Marienwerder and in 1846 moved to

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; wep, Arensperg) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hochs ...

to take up a post in the administration of that

Regierungsbezirk A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts. Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...

(local government district).Biography
at

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

In 1848 Dechend took charge of the newly founded public loan office in Berlin and in 1851 became a member of the governing body of the Bank of Prussia. He occupied several government positions in Berlin before becoming the vice-president of the Bank of Prussia in 1863 and its President in 1864. After the

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with ad ...

he became the first President of the Reichsbank in 1876. Dechend was a member of the

Prussian House of Representatives The Prussian House of Representatives (german: Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus) was the lower chamber of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the upper house, the House of ...

for the

Free Conservative Party The Free Conservative Party (german: Freikonservative Partei, FKP) was a liberal-conservative political party in Prussia and the German Empire which emerged from the Prussian Conservative Party in the Prussian Landtag in 1866. In the federal ele ...

in 1867-69 and of the Prussian House of Lords in 1872-90.

Family

Hermann Friedrich Alexander Dechend married Adelgunde Auguste Wilke (20 November 1823 – 1915) and was ennobled as von Dechend in 1865. His daughter Susanne (1859–1929) married the Prussian army officer Hugo von Kathen (1855–1932), while his granddaughter Adelgunde Margaret Beatrice von Dechend (1911–1983) was the wife of the Welsh character actor Hugh Emrys Griffith (1912–1980). His son Richard Von Dechend married Catherine Sinclair Sandwith, daughter of Humphrey Sandwith on the 2nd of April 1887 in Holy Trinity Church, Paddington, London, England.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dechend, Hermann von 1814 births 1890 deaths People from Kwidzyn People from West Prussia German Protestants German untitled nobility Free Conservative Party politicians Members of the Prussian House of Representatives Members of the Prussian House of Lords German bankers Central bankers Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Bonn alumni