Henry of Stolberg-Wernigerode


Count Henry of Stolberg-Wernigerode succeeded his father in 1824 as ruler of the County of Wernigerode.

Life

By birth, member of an ancient House of Stolberg, Henry was born as the eldest son of Count Christian Frederick of Stolberg-Wernigerode and his wife, Countess Auguste Eleonore of Stolberg-Stolberg.
Henrich zu Stolberg-Wernigerode was educated by private tutors and studied until 1790 in Strasbourg. He then continued his studies in Göttingen. After completing his studies, he devoted himself to the administration of his territories. After his attempts to prevent the mediatization of his house as part of Reichsdeputationshauptschluss had failed, he sided with Napoléon Bonaparte, and became Oberstallmeister in the Kingdom of Westphalia. From 1808 to 1813 he was a member of the Diet the Kingdom of Westphalia.
From 1813 to 1815, he served the General Government between the Weser and the Rhine as administrator of the district of Osterwieck. During the Congress of Vienna, all of the territories of the County of Stolberg were awarded to count Henry.
From 1825 he was a member of the Prussian State Council. From 1825 to 1854 he was also a member of the provincial Council of the Prussian Province of Saxony; from 1847 to 1848 he was a member of the United Diet of the Prussian provinces. From 1824 to 1854, he ruled over the county of Wernigerode in the district of Magdeburg of the Prussian province of Saxony. As a nobleman, he was a hereditary member of the First Chamber of the States General in the Kingdom of Hanover and also in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Count Henry was canon of the cathedral in Halberstadt, Knight of the Prussian Royal Order of the Black Eagle and a member of the Order of Saint John.
In 1853 he purchased the House Bruch, a manor near Hattingen. The Henrichshütte factory in Hattingen was named after him. This factory started operations in 1854, the year Henry died.

Marriages and issue

On 4 August 1799 he married his first wife, Princess Johanna Jenny von Schönburg-Waldenburg, daughter of Prince Otto Karl Friedrich of Schönburg-Waldenburg and his wife, Countess Henriette Eleonore Elisabeth Reuss of Köstritz. They had:
On 30 December 1810, he married his second wife, Baroness Eberhardine von der Recke, the daughter of the Prussian State Minister Eberhard Freiherr von der Recke and his wife, Baroness Elise Dorothea Luise Vincke.