Karl Ledderhose

File:Goldschmiedehaus Hanau.jpg

Karl Ledderhose was the son of Gustav Ledderhose (1772–1841) and Sophie Susanna (née Dupré; 1777–1862).{{cite book |last=Brandes|first=Gustav|date=1934|title=Die Familien "du Pré" oder "Dupré"-- "von der Wiese"|location=Dresden|publisher=Gärtner}} Gustav Ledderhose was a legislator in the city of Hanau, then part of the Electorate of Hesse. He received his education at the Collegium Carolinum in Kassel, but there is no evidence that he attended any institute of higher education.{{cite book |last=Wenck|first=Helfrich Bernhard|author-link=Helfrich Bernhard Wenck|date=1797|title=Leben und Charakter des verstorbenen Hess. Darmstädt. Geheimen Tribunalraths D. Ludwig Julius Friedrich Höpfner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q0CXc10RJbsC|location=Frankfurt am Main|publisher=Varrentrapp und Wenner|page=15}} He worked initially as a secretary for the Lutheran consistorial government in Hanau, but eventually rose to the rank of senior civil servant ({{langx|de|Regierungsrat}}).{{cite book |author= |date=1803|title=Kur-Hessischer Staats- und Adress-Kalender auf das Jahr 1803|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4QAAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=25}}{{cite book |author= |date=1804|title=Genealogisches Reichs- und Staats-Handbuch auf das Jahr 1804|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PUlNAAAAcAAJ|location=Frankfurt am Main|publisher=Barrentrap und Wenner|page=255}}{{cite book |author= |date=1824|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1824|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DgJTAAAAcAAJ/page/218/mode/2up|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=218}} Gustav would go on to maintain his role as government minister for almost two decades, but little is known of the specifics of his acts or positions as a politician.{{cite book |author= |date=1827|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1827|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NAJTAAAAcAAJ/page/220/mode/2up|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=221}}{{cite book |author= |date=1829|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1829|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgJTAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=221}}{{cite book |author= |date=1830|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1829|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_lQJTAAAAcAAJ/page/216/mode/2up|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=217}}{{cite book |author= |date=1836|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1836|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SANTAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=228}}{{cite book |author= |date=1839|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1839|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZ1jAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=228}}{{cite book |author= |date=1840|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1840|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=051jAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=228}} He also served as the director of the Hanau {{lang|de|Leihbank}}.{{cite book |author= |date=1836|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1836|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SANTAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=228}} Ledderhose's mother, Susanna, was descended from a Huguenot family that settled in Hesse fleeing persecution in France during the previous century.

After initial schooling in Hanau and Kassel, Ledderhose was sent to the University of Marburg and Heidelberg University to study natural philosophy and law. He graduated from Heidelberg on 9 May 1840, under tutelage of Karl Ullmann.{{cite book |editor-last=Toepke|editor-first=Gustav|editor-last2=Hintzelmann|editor-first2=Paul|date=1904|title=Die matrikel der Universitat Heidelberg|volume=5|location=Heidelberg|publisher=Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung|page=641|language=German}} Ledderhose first appears in professional life in 1844, as a legal intern at the Hanau District Court.{{cite book |author= |date=1844|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1844|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAhTAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=168}} From 1845 to 1847, he was employed as a referendar at the criminal division of the Hanau High Court.{{cite book |author= |date=1845|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1845|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZ5jAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=167}}{{cite book |author= |date=1846|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1846|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=igdTAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=167}}{{cite book |author= |date=1847|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1847|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_N_pSAAAAcAAJ/page/167/mode/2up|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=167}} In 1848, Ledderhose was transferred to the high court in Kassel, where he worked as an assessor until 1851.{{cite book |author= |date=1851|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1851|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_PPBSAAAAcAAJ/page/99/mode/2up|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=99}} From 1852 to 1855 he performed the role of assistant state prosecutor at the criminal court in Schmalkalden, with a brief return to Kassel for his wedding.{{cite book |author= |date=1852|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1852|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=evBSAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=140}}{{cite book |author= |date=1853|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1853|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_r_BSAAAAcAAJ/page/139/mode/2up|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=139}}{{cite book |author= |date=1854|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1854|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=estTAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=140}}{{cite book |author= |date=1855|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1855|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvNSAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=140}} The years from 1856 to 1861 found Ledderhose working as a magistrate in the judicial office at Bockenheim (then an independent village, now a part of Frankfurt am Main),{{cite book |author= |date=1856|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1856|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C_RSAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=142}}{{cite book |author= |date=1857|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1857|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WPRSAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=174}}{{cite book |author= |date=1858|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1858|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_sPRSAAAAcAAJ/page/174/mode/2up |location=Kassel |publisher=Waisenhaus|page=174}}{{cite book |author= |date=1859|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1859|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fRSAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=174}}{{cite book |author= |date=1860|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1860|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KvVSAAAAcAAJ |location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=174}}{{cite book |author= |date=1861|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1861 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_VSAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=174}} and by 1862 his appointment to Chief Finance Councillor and Member of the Upper Mines and Salt Works Directorate saw him and his family back in Kassel.{{cite book |author= |date=1862|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1862|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_e_VSAAAAcAAJ/page/426/mode/2up|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=427}} From 1863 to 1866, Ledderhose held the position of Lecturing Council in the Ministry of Finance ({{langx|de|Vortragende Oberfinanzrath}}).{{cite book |author= |date=1863|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1863|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvVSAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=383}}{{cite book |author= |date=1864|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1864|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pPVSAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=383}}{{cite book |author= |date=1865|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y_VSAAAAcAAJ|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=383}} Following the Austro-Prussian War, in which Hesse sided with the Austrian Empire and lost, the state of Hesse was occupied by the Kingdom of Prussia, and on 22 June 1866, all acting government officials and cabinet members were formally replaced by their highest ranking inferiors.{{cite thesis|last=Kaiser|first=Andreas|date=2003|title=Das Papiergeld des Kurfürstentums Hessen Methoden staatlicher Schuldenaufnahme im 19. Jahrhundert|publisher=Philipps-Universität Marburg}} Initially, Ledderhose and his colleague {{ill|Adolf Etienne|lt=Adolf Etienne|de}} refused to take up their new positions, but after they were both threatened with deportation to Spandau prison, they accepted.{{cite news |author= |date=20 July 1866 |title=Europäische Nachrichten und Notizen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/884910685|work=Taglicher Baltimore Wecker|page=2 |location=Baltimore, MD |access-date=}} This meant that, albeit briefly, Ledderhose was raised to the highest rank in the Finance Ministry.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83784833 |title=Aus der Tagesgeschichte |newspaper=Süd Australische Zeitung |volume=XVI |issue=33 |location=South Australia |date=15 August 1866 |accessdate=24 March 2023 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} From that point until 1867, Ledderhose was the Head of the Ministry of Finance, as well as a member of the State Treasury Directorate.{{cite book |author= |date=1866|title=Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch auf das Jahr 1866|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8vVSAAAAcAAJ/page/388/mode/2up|location=Kassel|publisher=Waisenhaus|page=389}} As Prussian control strengthened and the formerly free Hesse was transformed into the Province of Hesse-Nassau by 1868, Ledderhose was made Head of the Department for Direct Taxes, Domains and Forests, which was a particularly important position within Hesse as a newly inducted member of the Zollverein.

On 10 April 1853, Ledderhose married Wilhelmine Justine Charlotte (née Pfeiffer; 1826–1892), known as Minna.{{cite book|last=Pfeiffer|first=August Ludwig|date=1886|title=Die Familie Pfeiffer: Eine Sammlung von Lebensbildern und Stammbäumen|url=https://orka.bibliothek.uni-kassel.de/viewer/!metadata/1568028714368/155/-/|location=Kassel|publisher= Druck von Friedr. Scheel|page=147}} She was the daughter of Kassel merchant and banker Johann Georg Heinrich Pfeiffer (1781–1859) and his wife Susanna (née Deines; 1787–1844).{{harvtxt|Pfeiffer|1886|p=43}} Minna's sisters were also married to prominent men in Hesse, most notably the pioneering chemist Friedrich Wöhler and the jurist and parliamentarian Otto Bähr.{{harvtxt|Pfeiffer|1886|p=159}}{{harvtxt|Pfeiffer|1886|p=131}} Another of her sisters was married to their first cousin, {{ill|Ludwig von Deines|lt=Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Hermann Deines|de}} (1818–1901), and their son, Ledderhose's nephew, was the Prussian Cavalry General Adolf von Deines. Minna Ledderhose's uncles included Burkhard Wilhelm Pfeiffer, Carl Jonas Pfeiffer and Franz Georg Pfeiffer, while her cousins were Louis Pfeiffer and Friedrich Pfeiffer. Her grandfather was the eminent theologian and dean of the University of Marburg's philosophy faculty Johann Jakob Pfeiffer.

• Georg Otto (15 December 1855–1 February 1925), surgeon, professor, and discoverer of glucosamine.
• Hermann (20 March 1857–4 June 1933), followed his father into government in Strasbourg; awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, 4th class, in 1902.{{citation|title=Königlich Preussische Ordensliste|volume=1|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878831&view=1up&seq=5&skin=2021|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015025921423&view=1up&seq=696&skin=2021 88]|chapter=Rother Adler-orden|language=German|location=Berlin|publisher=Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei|year=1886|via=hathitrust.org}}
• Gustav (4 April 1862–13 March 1888) died of unknown causes while working as a legal intern in Hagenau.

After the death of his first wife in 1892, Ledderhose married for a second time, and somewhat unconventionally: his second wife was his son Hermann's widowed mother-in-law. On 25 October 1893, Ledderhose was married to Emilie Henriette Charlotte (formerly Bachfeld, née Thudichum; 19 January 1837 - 25 February 1913), the widow of the composer Friedrich Bachfeld (17 February 1814 – 16 December 1890) and mother of Minna Bachfeld, wife of Hermann Ledderhose.{{cite news |author= |date=January 1899 |title=Todes-Anzeige |work=Strassburger Post |location=Strassburg}} The second Mrs. Ledderhose was the daughter of the Hessian politician Ludwig Thudichum.

File:EdMöller.jpgLedderhose was a protégé and close collaborator of Eduard von Möller, particularly during the transition to Prussian rule, at which time von Möller was named Oberpräsident of the newly formed Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau.[https://www.rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de/Persoenlichkeiten/eduard-von-moeller/DE-2086/lido/5bd6db13e221f6.25546546 Lilla, Joachim, Eduard von Möller, in: Internetportal Rheinische Geschichte] When von Möller was transferred to Strasbourg and named {{lang|de|Oberpräsident}} of Alsace–Lorraine ({{langx|de|Elsaß–Lothringen}}) in 1871, he specifically wrote to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck requesting that Ledderhose be made his vice-president.{{cite book|title=Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins|editor=Badischen Historischen Kommission|last=Wiegand|first=Wilhelm|chapter=Elsässische Lebens-Erinnerungen|date=1924|location=Karlsruhe|publisher=G. Braun|pages=114–115}} By 1875, due to an increasing personality clash between von Möller and the District President ({{langx|de|Bezirkspräsident}}) of the Unterelsaß District, Adolf Ernst von Ernsthausen, von Moeller requested that Bismarck transfer von Ernsthausen to Colmar and make him the District President of Oberelsaß, so that while they might still have to work together, they would not have to live in the same city.{{cite news |author= |date=13 March 1875|title=The Extra Supplement, Foreign and Colonial News: Germany|work=The Illustrated London News|location=London|page=242|volume=1857|issue=LXVI|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgzQv0Q7a_EC}}{{cite news |title=Scheepstijdingen|newspaper=Algemeen Handelsblad|volume=13732|location=South Australia |date=10 March 1875|page=3}} Consequently, Ledderhose was elevated to the position of District President, which position he held until 1879, when Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel was appointed the first Imperial Lieutenant ({{langx|de|Reichsstatthalter}}) of Alsace-Lorraine.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} During his tenure as District President, Ledderhose was able to take part in many great events of state, including several visits by the Kaiser and the imperial court.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228782322 |title=Auswärtige Angelegenheiten |newspaper=Australische Zeitung |volume=XXVIII |issue=52 |location=South Australia |date=26 December 1876 |accessdate=24 March 2023 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} On the occasion of the Kaiser's visit to inaugurate the opening of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Universität, Ledderhose received much praise, but his wife Minna was also singled out for her charm and the dignity with which she "played {{lang|de|Hausfrau}}" for the Imperial retinue.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228782036 |title=Kaiser Wilhelm im Reichslande |newspaper=Australische Zeitung |volume=XXIX |issue=29 |location=South Australia |date=17 July 1877 |accessdate=28 March 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} Indeed, the Ledderhose's salon, held in the spacious chambers they occupied in the {{lang|de|Frauenhaus}}, now the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame, were widely praised by Strasbourg's high society for the quality of their attendees, and the conversation therein.{{cite book |date=1888|title=La Société de Strasbourg |url= |location=Colmar |publisher=Imprimerie de Veuve Camille Decker|page=40 |language=French}}

In 1875, Ledderhose was dispatched to Paris to assist a group of Bishops to re-negotiate the borders of the various bishoprics and dioceses in the state of Alsace-Lorraine. The predominantly Catholic French and the predominantly Protestant Germans were ever at odds over dogma, but in this case, property, land, and income were involved, so it became more of a political issue than a religious one.{{cite news |author=|date=12 May 1874|title= Politische Uebersicht|url= |work=Neue Freie Presse|location=Vienna|volume=3488|issue=5}} Another interesting event during Ledderhose's tenure as District President occurred in 1877. Two brothers, August and Franz Scherbeck, were Alsatian-born French citizens who had fought in the French army during the Franco-Prussian War, but were now requesting naturalization in Alsace so they could take care of their ailing father and his farm.{{cite thesis|last=Scofield|first=Devlin Marshall|date=2015|title=Veterans, War Widows, and National Belonging in Alsace, 1871-1953 |type=PhD|publisher=Michigan State University|pages=84–86|url=https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/2634?q=%20Veterans,%20War%20Widows,%20and%20National%20Belonging%20in%20Alsace,%201871-1953}} As enemy combatants, their application process was stymied at various points along the way, including by von Moeller himself, but eventually one of the brothers wrote a letter directly to Bismarck himself, which caused the Chancellor to issue an edict that Ledderhose approve their application.Franz Anton Scherbeck to Kanzler des Deutschen Reiches Otto von Bismarck, January 15, 1878, 39 D 38, ADBR. This incident highlights a curious occurrence in the region, whereby the central imperial authorities in Berlin were often more engaged in local administrative matters than the local magistrates themselves.{{harvtxt|Scofield|2015|p=84}}

After his old rival Manteuffel was named Imperial Lieutenant of Alsace-Lorraine in 1879, Ledderhose was replaced by Otto Back, former mayor of Strasbourg as {{lang|de|Bezirkspräsident}} and given the position of Undersecretary of State ({{langx|de|Unterstaatssekretär}}) for Agriculture, Industry, and Public Works.{{cite book|title=Almanach de Gotha: Annuaire Généalogique, Diplomatique et Statistique|publisher=Justus Perthes|location=Gotha|year=1881|volume=16|chapter=Alsace-Lorraine|pages=163–164, 406|language=French}} According to Alberta von Puttkammer, the daughter of Ledderhose's colleague and former {{lang|de|Bezirkspräsident}} of Lorraine Robert von Puttkamer, the decision to put Ledderhose in this position was based not only on Manteuffel's annoyance with him, but also because "...[he] had neither a lively interest nor a pronounced talent, while he was sympathetic to internal political administrative questions and worked effectively on their solution."{{cite book |last=Puttkammer|first=Alberta von|date=1904|title=Die Aera Manteuffel: Federzeichnungen aus Elsass-Lothringen|location=Stuttgart und Leipzig|publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt|page=53}} In short, Ledderhose was seen as a perfectly serviceable mid-level functionary, who would neither cause trouble nor rock the boat.

File:Bebauungsplan_f%C3%BCr_die_Erweiterung_der_Stadt_Strassburg_1880.jpg

Shortly after being reassigned to the role of {{lang|de|Unterstaatssekretär}}, in 1880, Ledderhose was involved in the overhaul of Strasbourg's urban center. Most of the planning was done while he was {{lang|de|Bezirkspräsident}}, but even after he lost that position, the project fell under his purview as a matter of public works, so he remained closely involved.{{cite book|editor-last=Rapetti|editor-first=Rodolphe|title=Strasbourg, 1900: naissance d'une capitale|publisher=Musées de Strasbourg|location=Strasbourg|year=2000|isbn=9782850563874|pages=163–164|language=French}} Among those who worked with Ledderhose to redesign the city was the famed French architect Jean Geoffroy Conrath.{{cite book |last=Steinhoff|first=Anthony|date=2008|title=The Gods of the City: Protestantism and Religious Culture in Strasbourg, 1870-1914|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|page=96}} There are records of Ledderhose's impassioned speeches to the government, in which he defended a wide variety of issues that fell under his purview. In one, the government proposed to do away with certain subsidies from forestry income that went to support vocational carpentry schools in the region, which Ledderhose believed to be a grave mistake, and he so impressed his colleagues with statistics and data about the breadth of benefit these schools provided for the poor of their region that the motion was tabled.{{citation|title=Verhandlungen des Landesausschusses für Elsaß-Lothringen. 10th Session, January - April 1883|volume=20|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2562416&view=1up&seq=95|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2562416&view=1up&seq=108 82]|chapter=Donnertag, den 8 Februar 1883|language=German|location=Straßburg|publisher=R. Schulz|year=1883}} In another, Ledderhose took up the defense of allowing children to work in the local mines, arguing that "they are given relatively light duties" and are "not compelled to work on Sundays."{{citation|title=Verhandlungen des Landesausschusses für Elsaß-Lothringen. 10th Session, January - April 1883|volume=20|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2562416&view=1up&seq=95|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2562416&view=1up&seq=107 81]|chapter=Donnertag, den 8 Februar 1883|language=German|location=Straßburg|publisher=R. Schulz|year=1883}} His speeches before the government also tied into his role as curator of the university, such as one he gave imploring his peers to approve the funding of new greenhouses on campus, to expand the research capabilities of both the departments of botany and medicine.{{citation|title=Verhandlungen des Landesausschusses für Elsaß-Lothringen. 10th Session, January - April 1883|volume=20|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2562416&view=1up&seq=95|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2562416&view=1up&seq=136 108]|chapter=Freitag, den 9 Februar 1883|language=German|location=Strassburg|publisher=R. Schulz|year=1883}} Due to Ledderhose's support, Heinrich Anton de Bary was able to preside over the opening of what was then one of the premier botanical institutes in Europe.

File:Visite du Kaiser - Aula du Palais universitaire - 12,2 x 17,9 cm - Bibliothèque Nationale Universitaire de Strasbourg.jpg of the Palais Universitaire.]]

At the same time, Ledderhose was also made curator of the newly established Kaiser-Wilhelm-Universität, whose construction and development he oversaw; at this phase the university occupied the now-vacant Palais Rohan. He was replacing Franz von Roggenbach in this role, and the latter's resentment would make Ledderhose's first several years in the post somewhat difficult.{{cite book|author=Frederic B. M. Hollyday|title=Bismarck's Rival: A Political Biography of General and Admiral Albrecht von Stosch|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlsSDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT322|date=7 February 2017|publisher=Normanby Press|isbn=978-1-78720-383-9|page=322}} Due to Roggenbach's abrupt resignation, certain crucial aspects of the university's organization were left undone, including the acquisition of faculty, the outlaying of permanent statutes, and construction of new buildings for teaching and research.{{cite thesis|last=Craig|first=John E.|date=1972|title=A Mission for German Learning: the University of Strasbourg and Alsatian Society, 1870-1918|type= PhD|publisher= Stanford University|page=294}} Despite these obstacles, from 1872 to 1875, Ledderhose successfully argued for more than 6 million marks worth of subsidies toward the university from the Alsatian government, accounting for about 3% of the annual regional budget, compared to the .7% of the total Prussian budget was spent on all nine universities in the Kingdom.Stanz Duncker In Reichstag, 18 Dec. 1874, Sten. Berichte, 1874-75, II. Session, Vol. II, p. 832. He also realized that support from the Alsatian government would be insufficient to build and staff the new university to the standard expected by the Kaiser, so he argued and won an additional 5.9 million marks from the Prussian government.Delbrueck to the Emperor, Berlin, 16 April 1872, in ADBR: AL 12, Packet 7 Ledderhose's success in securing early funding for the university helped assuage local concern about the rise of German Culture over French, which was and would remain a complex issue in the border region.Reichstag, 14 May 1872, Sten, Berlchte, 1872, III. Session, Vol, I, 352-53 In addition to developing and fighting for the budget that the school needed to grow and survive, Ledderhose brought prominent architects like Otto Warth and Hermann Eggert to Strasbourg to design the growing universities' teaching and research spaces. As curator, Ledderhose was also able to exact some real on-the-ground change in the way the university's culture was structured. Among his first acts as curator was to abolish both student prisons and faculty policing, both surprisingly common in German-speaking universities at the time, and the removal of which was credited with increasing morale and camaraderie between faculty and students alike.{{cite book |editor-last1=Summerfield|editor-first1=Carol|editor-last2=Devine|editor-first2=Mary Elizabeth|date=1998|title=International Dictionary of University Histories|location=London|publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn|page=386}} Among Ledderhose's achievement ins the early years of the university was his strong conviction that all faculties should remain united, rather than splitting the liberal arts and natural sciences into two separate schools, an idea which was supported by {{lang|de|Generalfeldmarschall}} Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel himself.{{cite speech|title=The Question of a Division of the Philosophical Faculty|first=August Wilhelm|last=von Hofmann|event=Inaugural Address on Assuming the Rectorship of the University of Berlin|location=Berlin|date=October 15, 1880 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OTcBAAAAYAAJ}}

File:Strasbourg University. Photograph by Maison Ad. Braun & Cie. Wellcome V0027683.jpg

Ledderhose's tenure as curator was not without drama, however. In dealing with the pushback from Roggenbach loyalists at the early days, Ledderhose came into direct conflict with Friedrich Althoff, who, while a competent educator, possessed fewer skills than were desired as an administrator, which often left him at odds with both his faculty and his colleagues.{{cite book|title=Elsässer Erinnerungen|last=Brentano|first=Lujo |date=1917 |location=Berlin |publisher=E. Reiss|pages=64–65}} Ledderhose, it was noted, had a much softer touch when it came to dealing with the faculty, who quickly grew to appreciate his style, and with whom he would enjoy a very close and productive relationship for the years of his curatorship.{{harvtxt|Craig|1972|p=474}} In particular, one change that Ledderhose instituted which forever ingratiated him with his faculty, was that he would not appoint anyone to the university faculty without first having the applicant vetted and approved by that body, to avoid any conflict of interest or personality on campus.{{harvtxt|Craig|1972|p=305}} In one hiring coup, Ledderhose was able to establish two separate chairs for English and Romance studies, two disciplines which had previously only ever been bundled together as "non-German." Effectively, Ledderhose hired both Bernhard ten Brink (in English) and Carl Eduard Böhmer (in Romance, and who had been recommended personally by Wilhelm Dilthey), and made it the government's decision as to which to fire, which they declined to do.{{cite journal|editor-last=Nonnenmacher|editor-first=Kai|last=Hausman|first=Frank-Rutger|date=2006|department=Geschichte der Romanistik|title=Elsässische Romanistikprofessoren vor und im Ersten Weltkrieg|journal=Romanische Studien|volume=4|page=431}} Among his attempts to increase the visibility of the university's faculty, Ledderhose courted the renowned astronomer Hugo von Seeliger to come to Strasbourg and direct the newly constructed, state-of-the-art observatory, but von Seeliger declined the offer for unknown reasons.Seeliger, Hugo von: Schreiben an die Universität Straßburg, Unterstaatssekretär Ledderhose, 13.6.1886. Arch Dep. Bas-Rhin, AL 103, Pag. 71, No. 245, Bl. 40. Less successfully, Ledderhose and Bismarck both championed the hiring of Heinrich Julius Holtzmann to the faculty of theology despite having no published work and little teaching experience. This political appointment can be seen through a historical lens as an example of the Kulturkampf waged by the Protestant Prussian establishment against their Catholic subjects.{{cite book|editor-first1=Henning Graf|editor-last1=Reventlow|editor-first2=William|editor-last2=Farmer|title=Biblical Studies and the Shifting of Paradigms, 1850-1914|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press |location= Sheffield |page=16 |year=1995}}

In November 1885, the position of Imperial Lieutenant of Alsace–Lorraine, which had been vacated by Manteuffel in June of that year, was filled by Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, a high-ranking German nobleman, former Minister-President of Bavaria, and future Chancellor of the German Empire. At first, the relationship between Hohenlohe and the extant cabinet was fine, but over time, personalities began to clash, which led Hohenlohe to correspond directly with the Kaiser and his privy council about replacing his subordinates.{{cite book |last=Silverman|first=Dan|date=1972|title=Reluctant Union; Alsace-Lorraine and Imperial Germany, 1871-1918|location=University Park|publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press|page=84}} Hohenlohe's enemies in Berlin were determined to depict him as weak and ineffectual, so he was forced act decisively in his role as Imperial Lieutenant, and Ledderhose and von Mayr were the victims of that show of strength.{{cite book|title=Memoirs of Prince Chlodwig of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst|last=Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst|first=Chlodwig Carl Viktor Fürst zu|chapter=Strassburg, 1885-1894|page=382|publisher=The MacMillan Company|location=London|year=1906}} In particular, Ledderhose and von Puttkammer's suggestion that a leading Alsatian industrialist, Jean von Schlumberger, be made {{lang|de|Bezirkspräsident}} in Colmar irritated Hohenlohe, and after corresponding with the Kaiser and his aides about the issue, he made the decision to fire both men.{{harvtxt|Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst|1906|p=264}} The cover of the 1887 parliamentary election was used to disguise the dismissals, and Ledderhose was replaced by the longtime mayor of Strasbourg, Otto Back, while von Mayr was replaced by the Regierungspräsident of Königsberg, Conrad von Studt.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229960954 |title=Auswärtige Angelegenheiten |newspaper=Australische Zeitung |volume=XXXIX |issue=21 |location=South Australia |date=25 May 1887 |accessdate=28 March 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}

With his removal from his government post, Ledderhose was also replaced as curator of the university. Among his last acts as curator of the university was to oversee the disposition of the estate of August Eduard Cunitz, an esteemed theologian and longtime member of the University faculty. Upon his death in 1886, Cunitz left his entire library and a fortune of ℳ︁180,000, equivalent to millions of dollars in today's currency, the University.{{cite news |author= |date=29 July 1886 |title=Ausland|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/849993335|work=Der Westbote|page=3 |location=Columbus, OH |access-date=}} As the end of Ledderhose's tenure approached, theology professor Franz Xaver Kraus noted with no small concern that the loss of such a popular leader among both faculty and students was the cause for much unrest, and caused him to fear for the future of the university.{{cite book |last=Kraus|first=Franz Xaver|author-link=Franz Xaver Kraus|editor-last=Schiel|editor-first=Hubert|date=1957|title=Tagebücher|location=Köln|publisher=J.P. Bachem|page=522|language=German}} Despite these concerns, the university continued to prosper, and Ledderhose faded into obscurity. Nothing is known of his life between his dismissal in 1887 and his death. He died in Strasbourg on 2 January 1899, having outlived his wife and his youngest son.{{cite journal|last=Bettelheim|first=Anton|author-link=Anton Bettelheim|title=Ledderhose, Dr. Karl|journal=Biographisches Jahrbuch und Deutscher Nekrolog|volume=IV|publisher=Druck und Verlag von Georg Reimer|location=Berlin|year=1900|page=157|url= https://archive.org/stream/biographischesj09wolfgoog#page/n437}}{{cite journal|journal=Hessenland|editor-first=Grotesend|editor-last=Dr. Wilhelm|volume=14|issue=1|title=Hessische Todtenshau von 1899|page=13|publisher=Druck von Friedr. Scheel|location=Kassel}}

• 50px Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class with Oak Leaves, 18 January 1875{{citation|title=Königlich Preussische Ordensliste|volume=1|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878864&view=1up&seq=34|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878864&view=1up&seq=115 111]|chapter=Rother Adler-orden|language=German|location=Berlin|publisher=Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei|year=1877}}Frankfurter Zeitung und Handelsblatt, 1.1875, Nr. 18. Morgenblatt (18.1.1875) (Prussia)
• 50px Knight of the Royal Order of the Crown, 3rd Class, 1 October 1864;{{citation|title=Königlich Preussische Ordensliste|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878864&view=1up&seq=669 657]|language=German|location=Berlin|publisher=Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei|year=1877}} 2nd Class, 1877; with Star, 17 September 1884{{citation|title=Königlich Preussische Ordensliste|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878831&view=1up&seq=585&skin=2021 577]|language=German|location=Berlin|publisher=Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei|year=1886}} (Prussia)
• 50px Commander of the Order of the Zähringer Lion, First Class, 28 March 1879 (Baden){{citation|title=Staats-Anzeiger für das Großherzogtum Baden|year=1879|chapter=Großherzogliche Orden|page=74|location=Karlsruhe|language=German|publisher=Walsch & Vogel}}

• {{cite book|title=Die Einweihung der Neubauten der Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität Straßburg 26-28. Oktober 1884|publisher=Universitäts-Buchdruckerei von J.H.E. Heitz|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073224779|location=Straßburg|year=1884|language=German}}
• {{cite book|title=Statuten der Funf Facultäten der Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität|publisher=Universitäts-Buchdruckerei von J.H.E. Heitz|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015086609438|location=Strassburg|year=1880|language=German}}
• {{cite book|last=Bettelheim|first=Anton |author-link=Anton Bettelheim|title=Ledderhose, Dr. Karl|series=Ledderhose, Dr. Karl|volume=4|publisher=Druck und Verlag von Georg Reimer|location=Berlin|year=1900|language=German}}
• {{cite thesis|last=Höffner|first=Harald|date=1981|title=Kurhessens Ministerialvorstände der Verfassungszeit 1831–1866|type=Ph.D.|publisher=Gießen}}
• {{cite book|last=Huber|first=Ernst Rudolf|author-link=Ernst Rudolf Huber|title=Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789|series=Struktur und Krisen des Kaiserreichs|volume=4|publisher=Kohlhammer|location=Stuttgart |year=1969|language=German}}

{{reflist}}

{{EB1911|wstitle=Manteuffel, Edwin, Freiherr von|volume=17|page=604}}

{{Pfeiffer Family}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledderhose, Karl}}

Category:1821 births

Category:1899 deaths

Category:German lawyers

Category:German politicians

Category:Heidelberg University alumni

Category:Politicians from Kassel

Category:People from Alsace-Lorraine

Category:University of Strasbourg