Gustav Heinrich Kirchenpauer

Gustav Kirchenpauer
Gustav Kirchenpauer in Hamburg senator's ornate
Second Mayor of Hamburg
In office 1 January 1868 – 31 December 1868
Preceded by	Friedrich Sieveking ()
Succeeded by	Ferdinand Haller
In office 1 January 1874 – 31 December 1874
Preceded by	Hermann Gossler
Succeeded by	Ferdinand Haller
In office 1 January 1877 – 31 December 1877
Preceded by	Hermann Weber ()
Succeeded by	Hermann Weber
In office 1 January 1880 – 31 December 1880
Preceded by	Carl Petersen
Succeeded by	Hermann Weber
In office 1 January 1883 – 31 December 1883
Preceded by	Carl Petersen
Succeeded by	Hermann Weber
In office 1 January 1886 – 31 December 1886
Preceded by	Carl Petersen
Succeeded by	Johannes Versmann
First Mayor of Hamburg and President of the Hamburg Senate
In office 1 January 1869 – 31 December 1869
Preceded by	Friedrich Sieveking ()
Succeeded by	Ferdinand Haller
In office 1 January 1871 – 31 December 1872
Preceded by	Ferdinand Haller
Succeeded by	Ferdinand Haller
In office 1 January 1875 – 31 December 1875
Preceded by	Hermann Gossler
Succeeded by	Carl Petersen
In office 1 January 1878 – 31 December 1878
Preceded by	Carl Petersen
Succeeded by	Hermann Weber ()
In office 1 January 1881 – 31 December 1881
Preceded by	Carl Petersen
Succeeded by	Hermann Weber
In office 1 January 1884 – 31 December 1884
Preceded by	Carl Petersen
Succeeded by	Hermann Weber
In office 1 January 1887 – 3 March 1887
Preceded by	Carl Petersen
Succeeded by	Johannes Versmann
Personal details
Born	2 February 1808 Hamburg,
Died	3 March 1887 (1887-03-04) (aged 79) Hamburg, Germany
Nationality	German
Political party	Nonpartisan
Spouse(s)	Juliane Dorothea Krause (1819–1905)
Children	3
Parents	Johann Georg Kirchenpauer (1773–1844) Anna Katharina Ruesz (1778–1811)
Alma mater	Dorpat, Ruperto-Carola
Occupation	Lawyer Journalist Hamburg Politician and Mayor

Gustav Heinrich Kirchenpauer (2 February 1808 – 3 March 1887) was a Jurist, Journalist and Natural history researcher. His zoological publications are considered to be a significant contribution to knowledge of hydroids and bryozoans.

Kirchenpauer also contributed very considerably to the political and economic progress of his home city: between 1869 and 1887 he served seven times as the Mayor of Hamburg.

Gustav Kirchenpauer descended from the "Kirchenpauer von Kirchdorff" couple, originally from Bohemia, who had been ennobled in 1539, their son, Hans Kirchenpauer von Kirchdorf having been raised further in the hierarchy of he nobility in 1590. Hans Kirchenpauer von Kirchdorff (1613–1648) came to Hamburg as a merchant, being granted citizenship of the city at the height of the Thirty Years' War, in 1640, which meant renouncing his aristocratic title.

Gustav Kirchenpauer's own parents were the merchant Johann Georg Kirchenpauer (1773–1844) and his wife, born Anna Katharina Ruesz (1778–1811), the daughter of another merchant, Barthold Heinrich Ruesz (1728–1811). Kirchenpauer's paternal grandfather, Johann David Kirchenpauer (1736–1798), was a merchant based for many years in Archangelsk.

After 1806 Gustav Kirchenpauer's father faced ruin on account of the Napoleonic trade restrictions known as the Continental System, the city having fallen under French control earlier . The family therefore left Hamburg in 1810, moving to Saint Petersburg in 1810. Unfortunately the boy's mother died the same year: two of his brothers had also died in infancy. Kirchenpauer and his two remaining brothers were sent to live with Jacob von Krause who was married to their father's sister, Julia (and thereby, by marriage, the Kirchenpauer boys' uncle). The extended family fled to London during the Autumn of 1812 to avoid the French invasion, but were able to return the next summer. The three brothers stayed on with their otherwise childless aunt and uncle in Saint Petersburg, where they grew up while their own father pursued his itinerant mercantile career.