DETMOLD, JOHANN HERMANN:

By: Isidore Singer, Frederick T. Haneman

German diplomat; born at Hanover July 24,1807; died there March 17, 1856. He was the son of Detmold, the court physician at Hanover, who, with his whole family, joined the Christian Church. Detmold received his education at the universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg. Admitted to the bar, he established himself as a lawyer in his native town in 1830. He took an active interest in politics as a Conservative, and in 1838 was elected a member ofthe Hanoverian Diet. His opposition to the new constitution and his attacks upon the government, both in the Chamber and in the press, led to a brief imprisonment. In 1848 he was elected to the German Parliament sitting at Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he allied himself with the deputies of the Right. He remained an uncompromising reactionist. In 1848, after the refusal of Frederick William IV. to accept the German crown, he became secretary of justice, and soon afterward was appointed secretary of the interior in the short-lived German government. When the "Reichsverweser" in 1849 dismissed the government, Detmold returned to Hanover, but was again sent to Frankfort, this time as representative of the King of Hanover, with the title of "Legationsrat." He held the position until 1851, when he was recalled. The last years of his life were spent in Hanover.

During his juridical and diplomatic career Detmold found time for the cultivation of the arts, the last five years of his life being especially devoted to artistic interests. He was a fluent speaker and writer, and his political controversies developed a considerable power of satire and invective.

Detmold is the author of "Anleitung zur Kunstkennerschaft," Hanover, 1833; 2d ed., 1845—an incisive and witty criticism of artistic conditions in Hanover; "Randzeichnungen," Brunswick, 1843—a political essay; "Thaten und Meinungen des Herrn Piepmeyer," Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1849—a satirical pamphlet on the politics of the Frankfort Parliament.

S. F. T. H.