Harkort, Gustav

BUSINESSMAN, BANKER, RAILWAY PIONEER (GERMANY)
BORN 3 Mar 1795, Westerbauer, Nordrhein-Westfalen - DIED 29 Aug 1865, Leipzig, Sachsen
GRAVE LOCATION Leipzig, Sachsen: Alter Johannisfriedhof

Gustav Harkort was a son of the merchant Johann Caspar Harkort IV. He was trained in his father's company and from 1813 to 1815 he participated in the wars against Napoleon. After his father died in 1820 he moved to Leipzig. With his brother Friedrich he founded a trading business.

In 1829 he was in charge of the preparations of the railway from Magdeburg to Leipzig. He was a member of the Railway committee that started the building of a railway between Leipzig and Dresden. From 1835 until his death in 1865 he was the director of the Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie (Leipzig-Dresden Railway Company). In 1856 he was a co-founder of the Allgemeinen Deutschen Credit-Anstalt and he became its director.

In 1864, 25 years after the railway from Leipzig to Dresden was finished, he became a honorary citizen of Leipzig. He died in 1865 in Leipzig.

Images

The grave of Gustav Harkort at the Alter Johannisfriedhof, Leipzig.
Picture by Androom (05 Aug 2016)

 

Sources
Gustav Harkort - Wikipedia (DE)


Harlan, Veit

Published: 27 Apr 2020
Last update: 20 Apr 2022