Adolph von Hansemann

Adolph von Hansemann (27 July 1826 – 9 December 1903) was an Imperial German businessman and banker.

Born in Aachen in 1826 to German banker and railroad entrepreneur David Hansemann, Adolph Hansemann developed an early interest in business administration. He left home for Hamburg in 1841. He was a partner in his brother Gustav's textile factory in Eupen, Belgium, until leaving to help manage his father's Disconto-Gesellschaft in 1857.

After his father's death in 1864, Adolph Hansemann continued to develop it by himself, expanding it into the largest private bank in the German Empire and one of the most famous in Europe. Along with Gerson von Bleichroeder, he arranged the financing for the Royal Prussian Army during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War; for his services, he was elevated to the peerage by Kaiser Wilhelm I and appended the von to his name.

As a board member at Krupp and chairman of the Gelsenkirchen Mining Company (Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG), he participated in the growth of coal and steel industries in the Ruhr valley. Like his father, he was also involved with the German railroads, including the Lehrte line, as well as lines in Venezuela and Romania. Taking advantage of Bethel Strousberg's exposure there, Hansemann's greatest coup was working with Bleichroeder to purchase Strousberg's railways throughout Germany at a fraction of their real value.

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