Christoph August von Wangenheim

Major-General Christoph August von Wangenheim (23 March 1741 – 23 June 1830) was a Hanoverian Army officer and politician.^[a]^[1]

Biography

Von Wangenheim entered the Hanoverian Army in 1757. Over the next twenty years he was gradual promoted and became a major in 1777.^[1] Between 1782–1787 von Wangenheim served in India with the East India Company but retained his commission in the Royal Hanoverian army.^[1]^[2]^[3] During this time, he kept a concise diary, which was published as an annotated version in 2017.^[4] He commanded Hanoverian brigade at the battle of Cuddalore (13 June 1783).^[2]^[b] Also during that time he led a contingent 1,400 Hanoverians, along with a company of European and sepoy soldiers to suppress a mutiny of a British Army regiment.^[3] In 1797 he was promoted to Major-General.^[1]

In India in 1783 von Wangenheim treated a wounded French sergeant who was his prisoner with kindness. Two decades later (in 1803), when France conquered Hanover, Bernadotte, the French commanding general reintroduced himself to von Wangenheim and thanked him for his kindness 20 years earlier.^[5]

Between 1814 and 1819 von Wangenheim was a member of the Hanoverian Parliament. In 1819 he accepted the office of Hofmarschall (an administrative post in charge of a princely German court).^[1]

Notes

^ Also spelt Christian August von Wangenheim.^[1]
^ There is some confusion in the sources Mlynek says he commanded the 16th regiment,^[1] but Philippart says the brigade consisted of the 14th and 15th regiments.^[2]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Mlynek 2002, p. 376.
^ ^a ^b ^c Philippart 1820, p. 387.
^ ^a ^b Arielli & Collins 2012, p. 41–42.
^ Tzoref Ashkenazi, Chen (2019). "German soldiers in eighteenth century India". MIDA Archival Reflexicon: 7.
^ Wilks 1817, pp. 441–443.

References

Arielli, Nir; Collins, Bruce, eds. (2012), "The Hanoverian Regiments in colonial service", Transnational Soldiers: Foreign Military Enlistment in the Modern Era, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 40–43, ISBN 9781137188038
Mlynek, Klaus (2002), "Wangenheim von", in Böttcher, Dirk (ed.), Hannoversches biographisches Lexikon: von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart, Schlütersche, p. 376, ISBN 9783877067062
Philippart, John, ed. (1820), The Royal Military Calendar, Or Army Service and Commission Book: Containing the Services and Progress of Promotion of the Generals, Lieutenant-generals, Major-generals, Colonels, Lieutenant-colonels, and Majors of the Army, According to Seniority:... (3 ed.), A.J. Valpy, pp. 386–390
Tzoref Ashkenazi, Chen (2019). "German soldiern in eighteenth century India", in MIDA Archival Reflexicon, pp. 1-8.
Wilks, Mark (1817), Historical Sketches of the South of India, in an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysoor: From the Origin of the Hindoo Government of that State, to the Extinction of the Mohammedan Dynasty in 1799 ..., Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, p. 441–443