Johann Christian Huttner, Goethe and the Chinese Emperor

Johann Christian Hüttner, 1766-1847

It is good when you have ancestors who were so accomplished that 150 years after their death someone writes an academic monograph about them.  On the other hand, most of my late 18^th and early 19^th century ancestors were common people.  In American they were gearing up for confrontations with the British.  In the Scottish borderlands they were just trying to survive abject poverty; in Philadelphia they were settling in as small merchants and carpenters.  But at least in Europe they were attending university and becoming translators, doctors and journalists.

As mentioned in the previous post that described the life of my great-great grandmother, Amelia Louisa Rudiger Freund, Amelia was raised partly by her grand-uncle, Johann Christian Hüttner,  in London.  I initially began looking for this grand-uncle hoping that it would either confirm or deny that Amelia Rudiger was Jewish—she decidedly is not.  I had a wonderful surprise, though,  as I eventually uncovered the very interesting story of this uncle and his own remarkable career.

I have two very good sources of information about Johann Hüttner. 

The first is his obituary published in

“Obituary of  John Christian Huettner, Esq.”, By Sylvanus Urban, Gent. In The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 28 (London), July 1847,

 (accessed via Google eBooks, April 1, 2011),

The second source I found just last week and it comes from another edited volume of symposium submissions, this one celebrating Goethe’s 250^th anniversary.

Catherine W. Proescholdt, “Johann Christian Hüttner (1766-1847): A Link Between Weimar and London” in Boyle, Nicholas and Guthrie, John, ed. Goethe & the English-speaking world: Essays from the Cambridge Symposium for his 250^th Anniversary. Camden House, 2002.

Portions accessed via Google ebooks, March 2012.

Just in case there are some readers who aren’t familiar with Goethe, I include this brief bio cribbed entirely from Wikipedia:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 28 August 1749  – 22 March 1832) was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath.[2] He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature.[3] His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long poem of modern European literature.[3]

Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours, his influential ideas on plant and animal morphology and homology were extended and developed by 19th century naturalists including Charles Darwin.[4][5]

OK, so Dr. Freund was Karl Marx’ doctor and now I know that my great-great-great-great uncle was a contemporary of Goethe’s and also his principal link to Britain and an English audience.  Who knew?

     Before Hüttner’s work with Goethe, he was a private tutor to Sir George Staunton in England.  Hüttner came from a modest background; his father was a choirmaster in Guben, which is a town southeast of Berlin.  He attended Leipzig University where he studied classics.  By all accounts he had a formidable talent for languages and was fluent in many.

     Sir George Staunton had one son for whom he engaged Hüttner as private tutor.  Staunton was a diplomat and scientist and Hüttner traveled widely with the family.  In 1793 King George III sent George Macartney, accompanied by Staunton, on a mission to approach the Chinese Emperor about establishing a British embassy in Beijing.  Naturally the motivation behind this was to expand British trade in the Orient, but I won’t get sidetracked here with a treatise on 18^th century British Imperialism.  I haven’t read the accounts of the McCartney Mission, but a quick glance at the wikipedia entry for this mentions that one possible contributing reason for the mission’s failure was the refusal of Macartney to kowtow before the Emperor. 

     At any rate, Hüttner accompanied Staunton who accompanied Macartney, learned Mandarin and served as translator to the mission. It appears that Hüttner’s ability to address the Emperor in his own language was a big plus, but ultimately couldn’t overcome the inevitable cultural dissonance. Later there was some competition between himself and Staunton to publish the first account of the mission.  Staunton had been charged with publishing the official account but Hüttner’s account was published in Zurich (in German I assume) in 1808 and was reviewed quite favorabley by the contemporary press.

     After his journeys with Stuanton, Hüttner spent most of his life as a journalist and especially as a journalist on English issues published in Germany.

         Beginning in 1800 Hüttner became the editor of the journal Englische Miscellen that published a wide range of articles for German-speaking audiences.  According to Proescholdit “Hüttner reported everything that he considered in the least interesting or worth knowing: inventions, announcements and excerpts of newly published books, biographical sketches, summaries of the latest stage-plays, cultural news from around the world, moral anecdotes, and stories more suited for the general reader.  For the ladies and courtiers he included excerpts form novels along with reports about the latest fashion, luxury items, and newly invented gadgets.”

     European political and military conflicts, particularly the rise of Napoleon put an end to Enlische Miscellen by 1808 and by 1809 Hüttner began his stint as a translator at the British Foreign Office.

Hüttner and Goethe knew each other for quite a period of time before Hüttner began acting as Goethe’s purveyor of British literary, scientific and artistic goods.  Goethe and Hüttner had both studied at Leipzig University and both men shared many interests.  Proescholdt states that “Goethe mentioned Hüttner’s name for the first time in an entry in his diary dated 9 March 1797.”  Goethe also was a regular reader of Hüttner’s articles. Personal correspondence between the two men began in 1817 and lasted until 1822.

      If you are at all interested in the particulars of how Hüttner helped shape Goethe’s reputation in London and the other details of their professional relationship, I urge you to read Catherine Proescholdt’s full monograph.  
      She concludes that “Through his association with Hüttner, Goethe had intense, frequent, and regular contact with London. . . Hüttner procured for him a rich harvest of books, magazines, reviews, and artifacts that helped to shape Goethe’s thinking.  As a consequence, Goethe became an admirer of English pragmatism, and this influenced his own methods of research.  It is arguable that his vision of a world literature, and his idea of world citizenship, were developed and illuminated by the flow of cultural exchange so continuously nurtured by Johann Christian Hüttner.  The result was the establishment of an informative link between Weimar and London during a period of considerable upheaval in Europe.”

Following is the full text of his obituary as printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine:

May 24. In Fludyer-st. Westminster, aged 82, John Christian Huettner, esq. of the Foreign Office.

Mr. Huettner was born of respectable parents, at Guben, in Lusatia. After the usual course of studies, and taking his degree at the University of Leipzig, he was selected by Professor Beck, on the invitation of the late Sir George Staunton, to proceed to England, in the spring of 1791, to superintend the education of his only son, then a youth under ten years of age. His pupil continued under his charge until the spring of 1797, when he entered the University. During this interval, Mr. Huettner accompanied his pupil to China, in the memorable embassy of Lord Macartney. As most of the diplomatic documents were written at that time in Latin, Mr. Huettner's classical abilities were frequently called into exercise, and his services specially noted in the late Sir George Staunton's official account of the embassy.

Among the friendships which Mr. Huettner formed in England, one of the earliest was with the first Dr. Barney, who was much interested by some curious information he had collected on the subject of Chinese music. It is supposed to have been mainly through Dr. Burney's influence that he received from Mr. Canning, in 1807, the appointment which he continued to hold, and very efficiently to discharge, for no less than forty years,—that of Translator to the Foreign Office.

While still at Leipzig, Mr. Huettner published, in Oct. 1788, a learned Latin Commentary, " De Mythis Platonis;" and in 1795 his Journal of the Chinese Embassy was printed and published at Zurich, but without his consent, and contrary to his wishes; and he always expressed his regret that his indiscreet friends had thus in some degree anticipated Sir George Staunton's official account of the mission. In 1808 he translated from the Spanish into German, the highly interesting and important appeal of Don Pedro Cevallos to the nations of Europe against Napoleon's invasion of Spain, and which is supposed to have had a powerful effect in awakening the sympathies of Germany in favour of the Spanish cause at that period. He is also understood to have furnished, from time to time, some valuable articles for the " Conversations-Lexicon," and other leading German periodicals; and his literary reputation recommended him to the notice of the late accomplished Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar, for whom he acted for many years as literary agent in this country.

Mr. Huettner was twice married, but left no issue. His affections, however, were latterly centered on an amiable and dutiful grand-niece, who came over to England from Germany in 1840, and whom he had the comfort of seeing happily married, about a twelve months ago, to Dr. Freund, an eminent German physician, recently settled in this country.

Mr. Huettner was a member of the German Lutheran Church, and always through life was exemplary in the discharge of his religious and moral duties. He was a very able scholar, possessing an active and well-stored mind, and a placid and courteous temper, which endeared him to all with whom he had any intercourse during his long, useful, and respected life. His death occurred at the advanced age of 82 years, under peculiarly painful circumstances, as he was run over by a cab in the Street about a fortnight before his decease, by which accident his thigh was broken; and although he appeared for some time to be doing well, the shock proved too great for his system, and he sank under an attack of apoplexy of the heart. His earthly remains were deposited by the side of his second wife, in the cemetery of Kensal

The Freund-Rudiger Family of London and New York

I offer below a little diagram so that everyone can be very clear about the story from here on. The previous three posts devoted themselves to establishing our one certified Jewish ancestor, Dr. Freund.

But what is equally, if not more fascinating, is what has been uncovered about his wife, Amelia Lousia Rudiger who was born in Prussia, possibly in Leipzig, but that is only a guess.

The narrative for Amelia Rudiger follows after the chart.

The Freund-Rudiger Family:

Jonas C. H. Freund, MD                              Amelia Louisa Rüdiger

Born Prague, c. 1808                             Born Prussia, c. 1824

Died London, 29 Dec 1879                          Died NYC?, 17 March c. 1885

(Raised by her grand-uncle, Johann Christian Hüttner in London)

Married London, 18 March 1846

They had at least 8 children, 3 of whom are known:

John Christian Freund, b. London, 22 Nov. 1848; d. NYC, 1924

Herbert P.E. Freund, birth and death unknown; “A lunatic.”

Gertrude, b. London June 1857; d. Penn. 1932

Gertrude Freund married Arthur A. Eyles 1n 1882 in London.

They had three children:

Arthur Henry, b. London

Charles, b. Chicago

Helen Esther, b. Chicago

(who married William J. Heydrick in 1917

in Bridesburg, Philadelphia, PA)

*****

         How did you two meet?  It is such a natural question to ask and the answers to this question make some of the best stories that we tell about ourselves and our lives.

     How did your parents meet?  Do you know?

         My mom and dad met at the Y in downtown Philadelphia.  My father had finished an intensive course in modern Greek at the Army Language School in Monterey, California.  He was on his way to be a counter-intelligence agent in Greece which was then engaged in a civil war and was the raison d’etre for the Truman Doctrine about containing Communism.

Anyway, back to the Y. . .

         My mom was a very good amateur pianist and had a gig playing the piano for the guys at the Y. This was after the war had ended and I don’t know why there were still so many servicemen hanging around.  You see?  I never asked about that part of the story.  My point exactly.

         Do you know the story behind your own parents meeting?  What about your grandparents?  Earlier than that?  No, I didn’t think so.

         It’s been fun to try to place the puzzle pieces as I’ve learned about all of my ancestors.  With Amelia Rüdiger and Jonas Freund I think I have a few answers as to how they MIGHT have met.

Amelia Louisa Rüdiger was born in Prussia but was orphaned as a young teen—perhaps earlier than that—but at any rate she ended up moving to London to live with her grand-uncle Johann Christian Hüttner.  I will tell the story of Johann Hüttner separately, for it is  a VERY good story (I was amazed at what I found out!), but for the time being let it suffice that Johann Hüttner was extremely well connected and did know all the prominent Germans in London.  It is mentioned that he knew the Prussian Ambassador.  This would be the same Prussian Ambassador who was a patron of the German Hospital in Dalston that was founded and directed by a young, talented Dr. Jonas Freund.

         It does not take a giant leap of imagination to envision how the well-known Johann Hüttner, through his friendship with the Prussian Ambassador could have introduced his ward to the charming Dr. Freund.

         Either Freund or Hüttner, or both had enough status that “The Economist” published a short announcement of the Freund-Rüdiger nuptials in 1846: 

“JCH Freund, Esq. MD , directing physician of the German Hospital. Dalston, to Louisa A. Rüdiger, niece of JC Hüttner, Esq. Foreign office.”

Note that they got her name wrong—but still.  (This announcement found online,—google The Economist 1846 and ‘Freund’—you’ll find it)

The Freund family then settled down at 7 West St., Finsbury Circus and there they stayed until Dr. Freund’s death in 1879.

I have found nothing at all about their 8 children save three.  The eldest son was named for Amelia’s uncle—John Christian Freund.  He became quite well known in New York in the field of music journalism and will have his own entry here in due time.

Gertrude’s story is a lot thinner than her brother’s but I’ll fill that in too, eventually.

The third sibling is known only through this tid-bit:

From the Medical Times and Gazette, (London)  Vol. 1, 1883  (accessed via Google eBooks)

“It is said that the Herbert P. E. Freund charged with being disorderly in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, and sent to prison for a month, was formerly a student at your Hospital, and a son of the late Dr. Freund, physician to, and founder of, the German Hospital. The unfortunate man had escaped, as the Alderman said, from a lunatic asylum.”

So there we have it—the lunatic in the closet.  Despite searching every which way I can not find anything else about Herbert P.E. Freund.  No clue.  Not one.

Amelia Freund first appears on the scene in the 1870’s.  One must presume
that until that time she was occupied with have and raising babies.  We know that her husband declared bankruptcy in the 1850’s and therefore it must have been hard on the family.

Oh, for the record, I’ve now concluded that Amelia Louisa Rudiger was not Jewish—and therefore none of her progeny are Jewish.  Her uncle, Johann Christian Huttner, besides having the middle name Christian (!)  was described as a devout German Lutheran.  I think it is a stretch to conclude without any other evidence that Amelia could have had Jewish parents.  So I’m closing the book on this question.

She has an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and a friend from my church who is a research librarian at Dartmouth College helped me out a lot by getting a copy of it for me.

© Oxford University Press 2004–9

James Gregory, ‘Freund , Amelia Louisa [Amelia Lewis] (b. 1824/5, d. in or after 1881)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/74780, accessed 8 Dec 2009]

 I’ve also uncovered at least a couple of academics whose research involves the early British feminists and Amelia Lewis (Amelia Freund’s pen-name) is occasionally cited. [Note:  I find it really interesting that she chose a very English sounding pen-name., obviously modifying her middle name from ‘Louisa’ into ‘Lewis’; I’m tempted to infer from this that she was not exempt from the shadow of anti-Semitism.]

Since J.C.H. Freund was known for being an advocate for the poor and worked to better their condition, it is not surprising that his wife followed suit.  Amelia Lewis lectured and wrote widely on the topics of better nutrition and better means of cookery for the working classes.  She was quite devoted to demonstrating how homemakers could prepare more nutritious meals on very modest budgets.  Indeed, after joining her son in New York City she gave demonstrations to single female office workers on how they could prepare their own meals for just pennies.  Two such demonstrations were reported in the New York Times. Amelia Freund gave dinners in December 1880 and early January 1881, to members of the American Institute Farmers' Club and to women working at a department store. These dinners were held in her office, 704 Broadway, New York.

A paragraph from her biography provides a good sense of her interests and ambitions:

“Freund involved herself in social questions and educational reform. She attended the International Prison Congress, supported the Metropolitan Shopkeepers' Assistants' Association, and addressed the Social Science Congress in 1872. She planned a girls' school on ‘Prussian’ lines and was invited to lecture in Germany on the women's question. She lectured on the art of teaching at Exeter Hall, London. Her interest in food reform began at a dinner in London celebrating the Newsvendors' Benevolent and Provident Institution's anniversary in April 1872. Later she wrote that ‘I am tired of writing fine things [when] I am seeing more and more that we are at fault with our plain home arrangements, and that Food and Cooking are especially neglected’ (Food and Health Leaves, 3 Oct 1879, 165–6). Her next venture, from January to April 1874, was Women's Opinion, a journal (initially a weekly) that she edited, published, and printed, representing the ‘social, domestic and educational interests of women’. It supported women's suffrage, covered female labour, and like Woman had sections on music, fine arts, and the theatre.”

Amelia Freund was also an inventor and was granted a patent for a new type of stove:

“FREUND, Amelia Louisa, trading under the name of Amelia Lewis, of Southampton Street, in the county of Middlesex, authoress and editor and publisher of " Woman's Opinion."—" An improved system " or method of domestic cooking, and improved apparatus and utensils to be employed therein."

This invention relates to an improved system or method of domestic cooking, and to improved apparatus and utensils to be employed in carrying the same into practice, the object of the invention being to prepare food for human consumption, so that the human stomach may be able to digest the same or assimilate the substances contained therein to the requirements of the body more easily than if the food were prepared or cooked according to the systems or methods hitherto in use.

The improved system consists in cooking or preparing the food by the circulation round or about it of dry heat radiated from the fire or of moist heat or steam generated thereby from water contained within the same utensil, whilst the said food is enclosed from contact with atmospheric air.

In order to carry this system into practice I have found it necessary, firstly, to devise a more effective heating apparatus or cooking stove, one of such a character as to be specially adapted to the economical consumption of peat or peat coal, and in which the fire is completely under control; and secondly, to devise improved cooking utensils separately adapted to their special requirements.

The object I have sought to accomplish in carrying my ideas into practical effect have been to make the fire as small as possible and to retain the heat developed therefrom as long as possible in order that it may disperse itself more completely among all the cooking utensils in use, and not be allowed to escape wastefully up the chimney or flue immediately it is developed as in ordinary open fire places.”

[from British Patent applications pg 132   CHRONOLOGICÁL AND DESCRIPTIVE INDEX OF PATENTS APPLIED FOR AND PATENTS GRANTED, CONTAINING THE ABRIDGMENTS OF PROVISIONAL AND COMPLETE SPECIFICATIONS For the Year 1874. ]

Oh, gee.  Look what I just found.  Literally just this minute while looking for the url for the patent application above I stumbled upon this little gem:

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/24280/pages/6700/page.pdf (accessed 22 March 2012.)

THE LONDON GAZETTE, DECEMBER 31, 1875.

The Bankruptcy Act, 1869.

In the London Bankruptcy Court.

In tbe Matter of Proceedings for Liquidation by Arrangement

or Composition with Creditors, instituted by Amelia Lewis Freund, otherwise Amelia Lewis, of 420 Strand, in the county of Middlesex, Authoress, Editor and Stove Manufacturer, a married woman trading apart from her husband.

N OTICE is hereby given, that a First General Meeting of the creditors of the above-named person has been •summoned to be hold at tbe offices of Messrs. Gamble and Harvey. No. 1, Gresbara-buildings, Basinghall-street. in the •city of London, Accountants, on the 12th day of January,

1876, at twelve o'clock at noon precisely.—Dated this 21stday of December, 1875.

CRONIN Hiid KIVOLTA, 22, Southampton-street,

Bloomsbury, Solicitors for the said Debtor.

This family certainly was creative, energetic, community-minded and educated—what they were not was fiscally adept.  Dr. Freund declared bankruptcy, his wife declared bankruptcy and according to his son’s biography, he too declared bankruptcy and fled to America ahead of his creditors.  I also now see something off:  Dr. Freund was still living at 7 West St. Finsbury Circus when he died in 1879, but in this 1875 bankruptcy filing, Amelia Freund gives 420 Strand as her address.  Hmmmm, I wonder what that signifies!!  We’ll never know.

Amelia Freund did move to New York after her husband died and I think that within 5 or 6 years she, too died.  I can’t find a New York obituary for her, but my mother gave me the copied text of a newspaper clipping with the notation "Article from daily paper."  It was probably passed on from Gertrude Freund Eyles to her daughter, Helen Eyles Heydrick.

"I have to announce the death of Mrs. Amelia Louisa Freund, a writer on musical subjects well-known in this country and in the United States.  Mrs. Freund, who died March 17, was sixty-one years of age.  She was brought up in London by her great uncle Charles Hufner, then one of the translators to the Foreign Office, a department who also employed the Lady, herself a most accomplished linguist.  She married the well-known London physician, Dr. J.C.H. Freund, a German, who in the Crimea was Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals.  Dr. Freund, who was one of the founders of the German Hospital, London, died in 1879.  Besides her contributions to musical journalism, Mrs. Amelia Freund was a fluent speaker, the authoress of several works on Political Economy, and one of the first founders of a School of Cookery in London.  The lady went to America in 1880, and has since supported herself almost entirely by writing on musical subjects."

I have some additional research on Amelia Freund and if anyone is so interested I can pass it along.  I have found for sale a few copies of two of her pamphlets, “How to Live in Summer” and the companion “How to Live in Winter.”  The last one was from a London bookseller and the price was 300 pounds.

So there we have it—another remarkable and accomplished ancestor.  If only we know her whole story.

J.C.H. Freund Sources and the Medical Times and Gazette from 1847/48

This blog posting makes sense as it relates to the one published previously entitled: "Dr. Frend, Karl Marx and Florence Nightingale: All true."

Published sources of information regarding Dr. Jonas Charles Hermann Freund, MD

All were accessed via Google ebooks in 2012. I have not provided the urls for each book since they each were many dozens of characters long.

Lattek, Christine, Revolutionary Refugees: German Socialism in Britain, 1840-188

Migration and Transfer from Germany to Britain, 1660-1914 ed. by Manz, Stefan et al, pp. 120-130

Two Nations: British and German Jews in comparative perspective, Michael Brenner, et al, editors 1999

The Jurist, Vol. 21, Part 2 1857

(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1139055/ Mentions Dr. JHC [sic] Freund’s establishment of the German Hospital and some history of same.)

See also through Google ebooks:

The Jewish Contribution to Civilization, page 302. (This is a one-line mention of Dr. Jonas Freund’s establishment of the German Hospital in London.)

The Marx-Engles letters are available online from various databases. http://solomon.tinyurl.alexanderstreet.com/cgi-bin/asp/philo/soth/getdoc.pl?S10022509-D000062

From the Medical Times and Gazette, (London) Vol. 17 (Oct 16, 1847 to April 29, 1848)

[Available on Google ebooks]

German Hospital Dalston

[From a Correspondent]

We have refrained from alluding to the late differences in connection with this institution until we were in possession of correct information on the subject, and we do so now the more readily as we consider the course pursued by Dr. Freund to have been highly proper and praiseworthy. The facts of the case are simply these: Dr. Freund, the directing physician of the hospital, having repeatedly requested, in committee and in his Annual medical report, dated Oct. 15, 1846, “that proper and efficient accommodation might be provided for seeing the out-patients, to no purpose, notwithstanding the medical officers had, at the request of the committee, met specially at the hospital, towards the end of July last, to report as to the necessary alterations, at length determined that the patients’ comfort should no longer be sacrificed by the negligence and delay of the committee. Therefore, on Tuesday, the 21^st September finding the patients exposed to the wind and violent rain—for they had no other waiting room save this very small one (about 5 or 6 ft by 15 or 16 long) devoted to their examinations I then resolved on seeing them in the boardroom where the patients would be more comfortable and the violation of decorum, hitherto inevitable avoided.” This gave great offence to one or two members of the committee and when Dr. Freund was about to enter the room on the following Saturday, he was told by the assistant secretary in the presence of some of the paid servants of the institution, that he had been instructed by the visiting committee ( which we find has no existence) “to lock the door and forbid his entering the room.” Of course, as the only responsible office of the hospital, Dr. Freund was much irritated at so gross an insult and said that any one who could give such must be a most ungentlemanly and impudent fellow. Mr. Phillips, a member of the committee, who, it appears, exercises an unwarranted authority in the management of the affairs of the institution, shortly afterward made his appearance, and Dr. Freund immediately asked him for an explanation; but he declined any answer until the doctor repeated his opinion of the conduct that had been pursued against him his; when he at once said, that he had done it that he was master of the house would kick the doctor’s nose and wring it.” Dr. Freund naturally became much exasperated at this, and told him that he was an impertinent fellow and that if he repeated such language he would turn him out of the hospital, A few members of the committee met on the next Tuesday at the hospital and immediately suspended Dr. Freund, declaring him unfit for the office of directing physician, and this without giving him an opportunity of refuting the charges that had been brought against him by Mr. Phillips, although he was on duty at the hospital that very day.

On receiving a copy of this resolution which was signed by the Rev. Dr. Kuper as chairman, as Dr. Freund wrote this gentleman and requested that an apology might be made and that the resolution thus hastily passed might be withdrawn, at the same time stating that he should still continue to discharged his duties at the hospital. No attention was paid to this letter. Dr. Freund, therefore, notwithstanding his suspension, which, according to the rules of the hospital, appears to have been illegal, went to the hospital as usual on the following Saturday, but was again insulted by being told by the house-surgeon that he ad orders to prevent his seeing the patients, and to give instructions to the dispenser, the nurses, and the porter, not to obey him. There was also a deputation of the committee . . . at the hospital to prevent his entering the wards. A general meeting of the governors was afterwards called for Oct 14, to decide on his retention or dismissal, which at once refused to sanction the conduct of the committee whereupon the Rev. Dr. Kuper tendered in their resignation, and they, with the illustrious chairman, the Duke of Cambridge, left the room. Mr. Alderman Sidney, M.P. one of the vice-presidents, remained behind, and was called to the chair, when a resolution was passed unanimously reinstating Dr. Freund in his office. This however, was of no avail, for so inveterate was the feeling of some few members of the committee, that, when the doctor again presented himself at the hospital on the following Saturday, Mr. Peeler, the sub-treasurer, met him, and said he protested against his seeing the patients. “in the name of the committee and in his own name, as owner of the house.” Dr. Freund immediately presented a written document with which he had provided himself, signed by Mr. Alderman Sidney, proving his reinstatement, but Mr. Preller refused to acknowledge it. Dr. Freund therefore left the hospital. The ex-committee then actually called another general meeting for the 28^th Oct. to appoint a court of inquiry—a course previously proposed by Dr. Freund to the deputation above alluded to, but not agreed to by them—to investigate the validity of the statement made in the their report read at the last meeting, and actually printed and distributed among the governors before the meeting took place.

This court of inquiry met a the London Tavern on the 17^th of November, and, after investigation the matter, came to the unanimous conclusion that—“the conversation and conduct of Dr. Freund took place when he was in a state of great excitement, and that such excitement was in part produced by his having received a the moment of his arrival at he hospital, a viva voce intimation that he was not to occupy, for the purposes of his duties in the hospital, a room which he had claimed as a temporary accommodation for him in the discharge thereof, while such intimation is, nevertheless, alleged to have been the act of the committee of visitors, held two days before, the omission of a written and immediate notice of such intimation to Dr. Freund, directing physician of the hospital, being likely to be specially painful to him, who had, from the commencement of the institution, rendered great and gratuitous services in aid of its foundation and maintenance.” {Signed Ashley, Chairman.”}

A third meeting of the governors was called for the 27^th of November to receive this report when, strange to say, Mr. Galdecheus commenced by asking Dr. Freund “if he meant to resign or not?” To this the doctor replied “no” and further stated that two days before he had been sent for my Mr. Alderman Sidney, who informed him that Chevalier Hebeler had called on him {Alderman Sidney} on the part of his Excellency Chevalier Bunsen, and offered him handsome testimonials and something still more substantial, if he would resign. The doctor declined accepting such paltry, mean offers, as he considered he would be degrading himself and the profession to which he belongs if he did so.

This meeting ended in a resolution being put and carried, to the effect that “Dr. Freund’s usefulness to the hospital since its foundation, his unremitting attention to the duties of directing physician, entitles him to the continued confidence of the governors of the institution.”

Thus has terminated a most unfortunate and as far as the committee are concerned, disgraceful affair. Dr. Freund, we think, has done great service to the profession: he has taught a lesson that ought not to be forgotten, that, if medical men wish to be respected by the pubic and by public bodies, they must first show that they respect themselves, and that they belong to the profession the honour and dignity of which it is their duty to uphold.

Also here is more on Karl Marx early years in Britain taken from a recent book [citation at the end]

"Marx reached England in summer 1849 at the age of thirty-one. His life in the capital city was far from tranquil. The Marx family, numbering six with the birth of Laura in 1845, Edgar in 1847 and Guido soon after their arrival in 1849, had to live for a long time in great poverty in Soho, one of London’s poorest and most run-down districts. In addition to family problems, Marx was involved in a relief committee for German emigres, which he sponsored through the Communist League, and whose mission was to assist the numerous political refugees in London.

As this wide range of research demonstrates, Marx was by no means “taking a rest”. The barriers to his projects again had to do with the poverty with which he had to wrestle during those years. Despite constant support from Engels, who in 1851 began to send him five pounds sterling a month, and the income from the New York Tribune, which paid two pounds sterling per article, Marx lived in truly desperate conditions. Not only did he have to face the loss of his daughter, Franziska, in April 1852, his daily life was becoming one long battle. In September 1852 he wrote to Engels:

For the past 8–10 days I have been feeding the family solely on bread and potatoes, but whether I shall be able to get hold of any today is doubtful… The best and most desirable thing that could happen would be for the landlady to throw me out. Then at least I would be quit of the sum of £22… On top of that, debts are still outstanding to the baker, the milkman, the tea chap, the greengrocer, the butcher. How am I to get out of this infernal mess? Finally… [but this was] essential if we were not to kick the bucket, I have, over the last 8–10 days, touched some German types for a few shillings and pence.77

Marx’s health and economic circumstances remained disastrous throughout 1855, and his family increased again in size with Eleanor’s birth in January 1856. He often complained to Engels of problems with his eyes and teeth and a terrible cough, and he felt that “the physical staleness also stultifie[d his] brain”.106 A further complication was a lawsuit that Freund, the family doctor, had brought against him for non-payment of bills. To get away from this, Marx had to spend some time from mid-September to early December living with Engels in Manchester, and to remain hidden at home for a couple of weeks after his return. A solution came only thanks to a “very happy event”: an inheritance of £100 following the death of Jenny’s ninety year- old uncle.107"

The Formation of Marx’s Critique of Political Economy: From the Studies of 1843 to the Grundriss by Marcello Musto

Dr. Freund, Karl Marx and Florence Nightingale: All True

I’ve had a hard time whipping into shape this more detailed post about my great-great grandfather, Jonas Charles Hermann Freund, than some of the previous posts. The difficulty lies in the fact that I have an embarrassment of riches in terms of information about Dr. Freund.

It’s important that I be as accurate as I can about the information I get on my ancestors. For anyone who stumbles upon this blog and is interested in the facts, they ought to have as clear a roadmap as to my sources as possible.

In the last couple of weeks, I discovered a couple of academic papers that provide a wealth of information about Dr. Freund and that has bogged me down a bit. This blog wasn’t intended to be academic—far from it, but the full story of Dr. Freund just calls out for more exposition, not less.

And yet, I am amazed. In a little less than two years I have gone from knowing nothing more about my grandmother Heydrick's parents than their names, to knowing quite a bit about her mother's parents. It is remarkable really. I had only a few clue to go on: I knew that my great grandmother's maiden name was Gertrude Freund, she was born at 7 Finsbury Circus, London and had a brother who was in the music publishing business. Someone in the family either knew or encountered Florence Nightingale and may have been a doctor in the Crimean War. That's it: the sum total of memories from my mother and her sister about their grandmother's background. I found a little clue myself: a U.S. census record on which Gertrude Freund Eyles revealed that both her parents were native German speakers--one born in Austria and one in Germany. And that was it. Starting with those scant clues I was able to put together a fairly decent portrait of the nuts and bolts of Dr. Jonas Charles Hermann Freund and his wife Amelia Rudiger. Far better would be able to know who they were as individuals.

The previous post (We're Jew-ish) provided a published obituary for Dr. J.C.H. Freund, who is primarily remembered as the founder of the German Hospital in Dalston, London. His birth date is frequently cited as 1808. One source I found states that he obtained his Austrian medical degree in Vienna in 1838. When he moved to London is unknown.

The best source about Dr. Freund’s role at the German Hospital that I've been able to find is a monograph by Dr. Christiane Swinbank who is a staff librarian at the German Historical Institute London. She contributed a paper entitled "Medicine, Philanthropy and Religion. Selective Intercultural Transfers at the German Hospital in London, 1845-1914" to an edited volume of research presented at two colloquia held in Berlin and Greenwich in 2003 and 2004. The resulting volume was published in 2007 as Migration and Transfer from Germany to Britain, 1660-1914. Unfortunately, this copyrighted book is unavailable online in its entirety. On the other hand, most of Dr. Swinbank's chapter, and especially the section that provides information about Dr. Freund, is included in the portion that can be accessed. Dr. Swinbank, relied heavily on archived annual reports from the German Hospital and if I had the means I might go to London to search the archives of the German Hospital in hopes of learning a little more about great-great-grandfather Freund. Alas, I am only an armchair historian and so this offering must suffice (not to mention the fact that I bet those records are in German, and I do not read German!)

(One can read this monograph for oneself by using the Google books feature to bring up the above referenced volume. The pertinent section begins on page 120, full citation at the end of this post.)

I believe that Dr. Freund must have emigrated from Austria to London fairly soon after his graduation from medical school. The German Hospital was opened in the fall of 1845 and Dr. Freund obviously didn’t drop in days before and decide to begin a hospital. His initiative was prompted by his experience within the German émigré community.

Dr. Swinbank writes:

“Within the medical landscape of mid-nineteenth century London the German Hospital, which opened its doors in the still relatively rural environment of Dalston on October 15^th 1845, was a rather anomalous creature. It was organized and functioned much like any other general hospital in London at the time, but it admitted the bulk of its in-patients according to the language they spoke. The title pages of its annual reports proclaimed that the hospital existed “For the Reception and the cure of natives of Germany and others speaking the German language.” [citation within the chapter]

A young German-speaking Jewish doctor from Bohemia, Dr. Hermann Freund, had taken the initiative for the foundation of a hospital for the German poor after he encountered many sick Germans in the capital’s hospitals who possessed little or on English and felt like “lonely strangers.” [citation within] Although they admittedly experienced no discrimination (“the London hospitals are alike open and offer the same kind of careful treatment to foreign as well as native sufferers”) [citation within], he thought the German poor were “usually labouring under great disadvantages, from their being unable to express their wants and feelings to the Medical officers and Nurses, and freely to communicate with their fellow-patients.” German doctors and nurses, who understood the patients’ language and knew their habits and customs, were to provide a congenial and familiar ‘German’ environment which would assist the speedy recovery of the patients, enabling them to return to work and avoid becoming dependent on outside assistance. [citation within]”

Dr. Freund’s tenure at the German Hospital was brief. He eventually clashed with his expectation that the staffing of the hospital would be accomplished in the German style which was in direct opposition to the way the English governing committee saw things.

Events came to a head as reported in The Lancet July, 1847 (accessed online via Google eBooks.

“The German Hospital”

“At this hospital, at Dalston, great commotion has recently existed, and disputes threatening the welfare of the charity are going on at the present time. The misunderstanding arose, the first instance, between the direction physician, Dr. Freund, and the house-committee. Dr. Freund felt aggrieved at the delay, which had taken place in providing accommodation for the out-patients, and insisted on using the board-room for this purpose. The committee resented this, and charged Dr. Freund with violent, indeed, riotous conduct, in consequences of this refusing the board-room, and they proceeded to suspend him from the duties of the office. A general meeting of the governors was, however, held, which refused to sanction the suspension of the directing physician, whereupon the committee resigned in a body, with the Duke of Cambridge at their head. On Dr. Freund presenting himself at the hospital he was refused admittance; but at another special general court, held on the 20^th ult., he was ad interim, restored to his post, and a committee of inquiry was appointed jointly by the house-committee and Dr. Freund, to inquire and report upon the alleged misconduct. The relative duties of the committee and house-physician should have been fixed clearly at first.”

There exists in the Medical Times and Gazette a very detailed account of what happened between Dr. Freund and the hospital committee that eventually led to his ouster. Christiane Swinbank also provides a detailed narrative as well. I am going to post the Medical Times account in a separate post so that those who chose can read it and not to bog down the story that has yet more to reveal about our illustrious ancestor.

I do just want to share one more little snippet that I found published in the American Jewish Review from September, 1948

http://www.ajr.org.uk/journalpdf/1948_september.pdf

There is a small article on page 5 about Dr. F [sic] Freund of Prague.

"He worked chiefly among he German colony in London whom he untiringly urged to make better provision for their poor--then a large number--by building a hospital of their own. His industry, devotion and humanitarian zeal at last secured the opening in 1845 of the German Hospital at Dalston but Dr. Freund, whom a German chronicler describes as "an Israelite filled with a truly Christian spirit," was not long suffered to enjoy the fruits of his labours. he was jockeyed out of he Hospital committee, and others, less conspicuous for a Christian spirit but also less non-Aryan, basked in the abundant appreciation , moral and material, which this grand monument of charity drew then, and has received ever since, from very many Londoners, German and native, Jew and Gentile, high and low."

Once Dr. Freund was ousted form the German Hospital it is difficult to know what happened to him. His obituary indicates that he was an Inspector General of the British-German Hospitals during the Crimean War, but I find absolutely no record of this anywhere except this obituary.

What I do find, however, in the Karl Marx archives and recorded in a few letters between Karl Marx and his friend and patron, Frederick Engles, are references to the Marx’ physician, Dr. Freund. I can’t claim with 100% certainty that this is J.C.H Freund, but it reasonably follows that the premier physician among the German émigré community would have likely ended up being the physician that Karl Marx would have used when he arrived in London.

The Marx family was impoverished and most of the references to Dr. Freund have to do with the money that is owed him and the fact that Marx cannot pay.

Then in a letter from April of 1857 Marx writes:

Dear Fred,

. . . “For the past six months I've been constantly having to call in the doctor for my wife. She is, indeed, very much run down.

Apropos. *Dr Freund has passed through the court of bankruptcy--assets . . . £200, debts £3,000.*

I found Dr. Freund mentioned in four letters between Marx and Engles. It is well established that Marx and his large family suffered many health problems endemic to the very poorest in London. This poor, German-speaking family was typical of whom Dr. Freund was dedicated to serving.

J.C.H. Freund came to an ignoble end, at least as far as I can tell. There is the mention by Karl Marx of his bankruptcy and in an 1857 copy of The Jurist , a published journal of court and legal activity in London, he is listed as a “boarding-house keeper, 7 West St. Finsbury.” It doesn’t say what action was being taken by or against him (maybe his bankruptcy), but he was scheduled for a meeting on March 13^th at 1:00. I found it odd that he was listed as a boarding-house keeper and not a physician.

There’s only one more detail to share and this regards Dr. Freund’s relationship with Florence Nightingale. Without doing a ton of research through the Nightingale archives, there is plenty of circumstantial eveidence that Dr. Freund and Florence Nightingale would have known each other fairly well and probably worked together in a professional capacity. Nightingale was trained in the German model of professional nursing, knew the Prussian ambassador well—as did Freund, and probably consulted with or worked with Freund as the German hospital was established.

Here ends my story of my great-great grandfather, Dr. Jonas Charles Hermann Freund. The next post will contain all the sources if you want to pursue reading more about him. I also will post the entirety of the conflict with the governing committee at the German Hospital that led to his early ouster from his post there.

We're Jew-ish.

I'm not the only one who has long suspected that the Heydrick girls have some Jewish blood in them. Now, that can be a dangerous thing depending on the decade and the country in which one is residing, but really, I thought we should know.

Growing up in a homogeneous, middle-class, white, post-war suburb of Denver I always thought just being Catholic was pretty exotic (the girls next door wore that plaid Catholic school-girl uniform and attended parochial school--seemed very exotic to me at the time!) I wasn't friends with anyone who was Jewish until I was in college, and even then this person was imported from Long Island (The University of Wyoming in Laramie in the 70's was definitely not the hub of cultural diversity.)

In hindsight I guess that Karen and Steven Kaufman, who were in my fifth grade class were probably Jewish, but I didn't know it. Later I was told that my fifth grade teacher was probably Jewish too--but I don't know if that was true. At any rate, once I knew what the word "ethnic" meant, I wanted to be ethnic. That didn't specifically mean I wanted to be Jewish, just that I wanted to be something other than an undifferentiated white Protestant. I wasn't even Irish Catholic; I just had a Scottish surname with no history to go with it.

I'm now married to a New York Jew and have glommed on to her cultural heritage as if my own. For the last 21 years we've been living in a homogeneous, middle-class, white--rural--community where the few members of the Jewish diaspora seek each other out. We always celebrate Passover with our dear friend Susi Erenthiel Learmonth (Jew married to a Scot) whose family escaped from Vienna in September of 1938--two steps ahead of the Nazis. So once I began really looking into my family history I went looking for the mysterious Jewish ancestor who I know MUST exist. I found him.

My mother's mother was Helen Esther Eyles Heydrick. She was born in Chicago to English immigrants. Her father, Arthur Eyles was an industrial chemist. (I will be posting all I know of the Eyles family eventually.) Helen Eyles' mother was Gertrude Freund. Now Freund is simply a German word that means "friend." But it could be a Jewish surname, or so I hoped. I had scant clues to go on:

My Aunt Margie told me that her grandmother had been "a real Cockney--born within the sound of Bow Bells in London. Their address had been 7 Finsbury Circus."

(Bow Bells are the bells of the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, London. To be 'born within the sound of Bow Bells' is the traditional definition of a Cockney. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/72100.html)

I started by doing some searches with the address 7 Finsbury Circus, London which is, in fact, very near to the City of London and the church of St. Mary-le-Bow--so that part is true. Some additional information revealed that in the 19th century there had been a large Jewish community center in that area. Ah ha! Getting closer! A U.S. census search showed that on the 1920 census each respondent was asked the birth place and native language of their parents. Gertrude Freund Eyles' record shows that her mother was born in Germany and her father in Austria--ha ha! No Cockney at all and it seemed more and more likely that the Freunds were Jewish. It was my mother who provided the critical clue: she remembered that her grandmother's brother had been very prominent in the music publishing business in the early 20th century. That clue led me to a John C. Freund who in fact did publish a music trade journal in New York in the late 1890's. His parents were Dr. J.C.H. Freund and Amelia Rudiger. My mom also had a very, very vague recollection about someone being a doctor in the Crimean War or knowing Florence Nightingale, or some such tale. Eventually this turned out to be a keystone clue.

I admit that I have no British birth record for Gertrude Freund and so do not have absolute proof that she is the daughter of Dr. and Amelia Freund, but the last clue to pop it all into place for me was from my mother's uncle Arthur, my grandmother's eldest brother. He was quite a character and wrote a memoir of sorts that he called "The Spasmodic Gas Jets." He remembers that his family lived still in Chicago when the 1893 World's Columbia Exposition drew visitors from all over the country to see such marvels as the first ever so-called "Ferris Wheel." His uncle John Freund arrived from New York for the Exposition--and so this last puzzle piece links the Eyles family firmly to John Freund. Luckily John Christian Freund was so well-known that his biographies popped up after a few google searches. These biographies clearly state who his parents were and that he left England for New York with creditors nipping at his heels.

More on John Christian Freund later--now I really want to return to our Jew-ish roots and the famous, no really he was famous, Dr. J.C.H. Freund.

There is a great deal to be said about the distinguished life and career of Dr. J.C.H. Freund, my great-great grandfather. For this posting, though, his obituary from the British Medical Journal will suffice.

From the British Medical Journal of January 10, 1880 came a death notice of Dr. Jonas Charles Hermann Freund, who died 29 December 1879. His address was given as 7 West Street, Finsbury Circus, London. He died of chronic bronchitis.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/issue_pdf/admin_pdf/1/993.pdf (BMJ death notice Dr. JCH Freund)

DR. HERMANN FREUND. It may be mentioned in connection with the death of this gentleman, which occurred last week, that until he started the idea in 1844, there was no hospital in London devoted to foreigners where they could be attended by medical men of their own nationality. With such a mixed and ever-changing population the want became so apparent that Dr. Freund some thirty-five years ago set to work to found an hospital for Germans, and mainly through his original suggestions, energy of purpose and devotion to the cause he had undertaken, this nationality has now in London a large and flourishing hospital, with a regular staff, and beds for 125 in-patients, which will compare in efficiency and good management very favourably with most of the larger institutions. Dr. Freund, though possessing Austrian degrees, held the position of Inspector-General of Hospitals in the British Forces during the Crimean campaign. Amongst the poor Germans in London he was a great favourite, from the interest he always took in their welfare, and the kindly disposition always evinced towards them; and his loss will be greatly felt by them. Dr. Freund had for a long past suffered from severe bronchial attacks, and the excessive cold and fogs of the present winter developed the complaint to which he succumbed last week at his residence in Finsbury Circus.

As far as I can tell J.C.H. Freund was born around 1808. A source that I'll go into more in the next post described him as from Bohemia---Bohemia, Austria, who knows? But there you have it--our bona fide Jewish ancestor. The question, though, is whether his wife was Jewish too? If so--because one is Jewish only if one's mother is--then Gertrude Freund was Jewish and so too was Helen Eyles and so too is my mother and then so too am I. Ahhh, but if Dr. Freund's wife was a gentile, well, then all bets are off and we end up being Protestants again!