Gossler family

The Gossler family (also spelled Goßler, historically also Gosler), including the Berenberg-Gossler branch, is a Hanseatic and partially noble banking family from Hamburg.

The family is descended from weavers and burghers in the city-republic of Hamburg, and rose to great prominence in Hamburg in the late 18th century as a result of Johann Hinrich Gossler's marriage to Elisabeth Berenberg, the last member of the Belgian-origined Berenberg family and the sole heir to Berenberg Bank. Through marriage, the family thus became the main owners of the bank, which has legally been named Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. since 1791. Since the late 18th century the family has been widely regarded as one of the two most prominent Hanseatic families of Hamburg, alongside the closely related Amsinck family. A branch of the Gossler family was granted the name Berenberg-Gossler by the Hamburg Senate in 1880 and was later—controversially in the republic of Hamburg, which did not recognise the concept of nobility—conferred baronial rank by the Kingdom of Prussia.

Several family members served as senators in Hamburg in the 19th and early 20th century, and Hermann Gossler was head of state in 1874. Richard J. Evans describes the family as one of Hamburg's "great business families." The Gossler Islands in Antarctica are named in honour of the family.

The family's earliest known ancestor Claus Gossler (1630–1713), who was most likely a velvet weaver, was a burgher of Hamburg from 1656 and lived in the parish of St. Catherine. He was the father of, among others, Daniel, David, Albert and Jacob Gossler (1666–ca. 1732), who all became velvet weavers and Hamburg burghers. Jacob Gossler had nine children, among them Johann Eybert Gossler (1700–1776), who was an accountant and a Hamburg burgher, and who bought the ceremonial office of Herrenschenk (i.e. cup-bearer; master of ceremonies of the Hamburg council) in 1739.

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