Robert de Wendel
| Adrien Charles Joseph Robert de Wendel d'Hayange | |
|---|---|
Robert de Wendel c. 1870
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| Born |
9 May 1847 Souhey |
| Died | 27 August 1903 (aged 56) Hayange |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Steelmaker |
Robert de Wendel (9 May 1847 – 27 August 1903) was a French steelmaker, heir of a long line of Lorraine industrialists. He and his brother Henri ran several large steelworks in Lorraine. From 1898 until his accidental death in 1903 he was president of the Comité des forges, the French steelmakers' association.
The de Wendel family can be traced back to Jean Wendel of Bruges, who married Marie de Wanderve around 1600. His descendants in the male line mostly pursued military careers. Jean's descendent Jean-Martin Wendel (1665–1737) purchased the factories of Le Comte in Hayange, Lorraine, in 1704. This was the foundation of the family's industrial operations. He was ennobled as Jean-Martin de Wendel in 1727 by Leopold, Duke of Lorraine. He was followed by eight generations of steelmakers.
Adrien Charles Joseph Robert de Wendel d'Hayange was born on 9 May 1847 in Souhey. He was the second son of Alexis Charles de Wendel d'Hayange (1809–1870) and Jeanne Marie de Pechpeyrou-Comminges de Guitaut. His father was a deputy for Moselle under Napoleon III. His elder brother was Paul François Henri de Wendel (1844–1906) and his younger sister was Marie Louise Caroline de Wendel (1851–1939).
The family lived in the Château d'Hayange. After being devastated by two fires, the building was renovated in 1867, and the west wing was transformed into a home for Robert de Wendel. On 18 May 1869 Robert married Marie Antoinette Elisabeth Carmen Consuelo Manuel de Gramedo (b. 1850) in Paris. Their children were Marthe Charlotte Consuelo Carmen (b. 1870), Ivan Edouard Charles (b. 1871), Manuela Louise Consuelo Sabine (b. 1875) and René Pierre Alvaro Guy (b. 1878).
When Charles de Wendel died in 1870 his 86-year old mother took charge of the firm. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Lorraine was transferred from France to Germany although the border was not immediately certain. Robert de Wendel and Theodore de Gargan met Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and other German leaders in Berlin April 1871 and tried to persuade them that the Wendel works would be no use to Germany, but did not succeed. Robert de Wendel's wife appealed to French prime minister Adolphe Thiers in Paris. Hoever, it seems that Thiers disliked the Wendels for their loyalty to the Bourbons and cooperation with Napoleon III. He thought development of the Normandy iron ore deposits would more than compensate for loss of the Lorraine deposits. He reassured parliament that "There will always be iron throughout France that is as good as in Sweden, and the prosperity of the east's metallurgic industry is a complete illusion that will not last forever." The result was that the Wendel works in Hayange, Moyeuvre and Stiring-Wendel were transferred to Germany.
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