Carl Heinrich Pfänder

Carl Heinrich Pfänder (15 February 1819 – 11 March 1876) was a German portrait painter and revolutionary who was part of the circle of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in London.^[1]

Biography[edit]

Pfänder was born in Heilbronn. Pfänder was the third child of Heilbronn master cabinet maker Jakob Andreas Pfänder (1785–1852) and Johanna Friederike née Künzel (1785–1864). Little is known about his school and apprenticeship days. He presumably attended elementary school and completed an apprenticeship as a craftsman before studying painting at the Munich Academy from 1840. However, no paintings that can be clearly assigned to him have survived, and in 1842 he had already left the academy. In 1844, Pfänder may have been temporarily in London for the first time. On April 10, 1845, he married Caroline Louise Ruckwied (1820-1889) from Großbottwar in Kilian's Church in Heilbronn, with which he went back to London after the marriage. In addition to his political commitment there, he worked professionally as a miniature and decorative painter. The family initially lived in Soho, in the Karl Marx neighborhood, and later moved to Camden Town . His marriage to Caroline had six children: Charles (1846–1902), Caroline (1847–1873), Henry (1849–1850), Emma (1851–1931), Henry William (1852–?) And Henriette (1855–1881) . Carl Pfänder died of tuberculosis in 1876 . On March 18, 1876, Pfänder was buried in the western part of Highgate Cemetery , but the grave can no longer be found (as of 2003). The family later changed their name to Pfander.^[2]

Political life[edit]

In London in 1845, Pfänder took part in meetings of the German Workers Educational Association and was soon a member of the League of the Just, to whose leadership committee he belonged in 1847, when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels joined the union and promoted the transformation into the Communist League. From April 1848 Pfänder chaired the London Communist League together with Heinrich Bauer (revolutionary) and Johann Eccarius, and in August of the same year he and Bauer also became a trustee of the Workers' Education Association.^[3]

When, after the outbreak of the Revolutions of 1848, the London communists went to Germany to support the revolution, Pfänder initially stayed in London due to illness. It was not until the summer of 1848 that he came to Heilbronn, where he joined the local vigilante group. When the revolution failed in the summer of 1849, he took part in the battle near Waghäusel on the Baden side , but then withdrew from the troops. He did not play a leading role in the revolutionary processes in Germany. After he was arrested on June 24, 1849, he was released within a day without charge. In the autumn of 1849 he was back in London.

Historical analysis[edit]

Local historian Hans Mueller researched the Pfänder family and found out that Pfaender was close to Karl Marx.^[4]

Death[edit]

Pfänder died in London.

Family[edit]

His great-great-great-granddaughter is Victoria Beckham, the famous singer, fashion designer and television personality.^[5]

Literature[edit]

• Hans Müller: A forgotten revolutionary from Heilbronn: Carl Heinrich Pfänder (1819–1876). In: Heilbronnica 4. Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 2008, ISBN 978-3-940646-01-9 ( Sources and research on the history of the city of Heilbronn. Volume 19) ( Yearbook for Swabian-Franconian History. Volume 36), p. 265– 322
• Hans Müller: A revolutionary from Heilbronn: Carl Heinrich Pfänder (1819–1876). In: Heilbronn heads III. Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 2001, ISBN 3-928990-78-0 ( Small series of publications by the Heilbronn City Archives. Volume 48), pp. 157–174

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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