Karl von Bodelschwingh-Velmede

Who was Karl von Bodelschwingh-Velmede?

Karl von Bodelschwingh-Velmede was a Prussian politician.

Von Bodelschwingh-Velmede was born in Velmede, near Hamm in the County of Mark. After serving as a one-year volunteer in the Guards Rifles Battalion he studied law, and then entered public life, serving in a string of posts from 1837–45: as Landtag in Hamm, Oberregierungsrat in Minden, vice-president of the Regierungsbezirk of Münster, and president of the Regierungsbezirk of Arnsberg.

In 1849 he entered politics at the Prussian level, entering the Abgeordnetenhaus as a conservative delegate. He served as Finance Minister from 1851–58 under Otto Theodor von Manteuffel and again from 1862–66 under Otto von Bismarck. He resigned in 1866 from an unwillingness to take on the responsibility of procuring funds for the Austro-Prussian War.

His brother, Ernst von Bodelschwingh-Velmede, was also active in Prussian politics.