Baron Frantisek Seraph Joseph (Franz)
von Ringhoffer
Male
Austria
1844-11-22
Praha (Prague), Bohemia, Austria
1909-07-23
Bad Kissingen, Lower Franconia, Germany
The following piece was translated from the Wikipedia article in German, which can be accessed here:
Franz von Ringhoffer – Wikipedia
Baron Franz Seraph Joseph von Ringhoffer was an Austrian industrialist, major landowner, banker, politician, art collector and philanthropist.
He was the eldest son of the wealthy industrialist and landowner of the same name, Baron Franz von Ringhoffer (1817-1873), whose ancestors came from Müllendorf in Burgenland, settled in Prague in the second half of the 18th century and built a wagon factory there; and Josephine, née Schallowetz (1822-1896).
In the year of his death, on 3 January 1873, the elder Franz was ennobled by the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I and raised to hereditary Austrian baron status in recognition of his outstanding services in the field of industry as well as his humanitarian work.
Baron Franz von Ringhoffer II was President of the Austrian Industrial Council; he founded the First Bohemian-Moravian Machinery Factory in Prague and the automobile manufacturing company Praga in 1906/07. The wagon factory built by his father in Smichov, which included iron foundries and various subsidiaries, was the largest of its kind in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and, as the Ringhoffer Works, achieved worldwide fame due to its production programme.
Together with his two younger brothers, Baron Emanuel Josef Franz von Ringhoffer (1848-1923) and Baron Viktor Josef von Ringhoffer (1854-1922), Baron Franz von Ringhoffer II built up one of the most important conglomerates in Central Europe. In 1882, Franz became a member of the Bohemian state parliament as a representative of the liberal Constitutional Party. From 1888, he was a board member of the Creditanstalt group of banks. In 1897, he became a member of the State Railway Council, and in 1892 he became a life member of the Imperial Council in Austria.
Baron Franz von Ringhoffer II prudently managed the family business after temporary difficulties in the 1870s. At the beginning of the 20th century the family’s agricultural operations in Bohemia, and the Groß-Popowitz Brewery in Velké Popovice in particular, were considered the most modern and best-run in the Habsburg Monarchy.
In addition to studying at the Polytechnic in Prague (later the Czech Technical University in Prague) and the Genieakademie (Royal and Imperial Technical Military Academy in Klosterbruck), Baron Franz von Ringhoffer II achieved the rank of lieutenant during his military service in the years 1866-68 and became a lieutenant colonel in the army reserve in 1878.
On 12 October 1871 in Wiesenberg (North Moravia), he married Baroness Franziska Klein von Wisenberg (born August 29, 1853 in Planina in Krain; died June 29, 1940 in Prague); she was the daughter of Baron Franz Klein von Wisenberg (1825-82) and Leopoldine, née Hauptmann (1829-86).
The couple had four children together:
Baron Franz von Ringhoffer III (1874-1940), a major industrialist in Czechoslovakia, which was created in 1918; president of the board of directors of Ringhoffer-Tatra AG and Mährisch-Schlesische Fahrzeugwerke AG (Stauding), honorary president of the Prague German Theatre, a golf pioneer in Bohemia and founder of several golf clubs in Prague.
Baroness Leopoldine (‘Dinka’) von Ringhoffer (1878-1945), who married Baron Nádherny von Borutín.
Baron Alfred von Ringhoffer (1880-1938).
Baron Hans (Hanusch) von Ringhoffer, who was born in 1885 in Prague-Smichov, and died on 1 January 1947 in Special Camp No. 1 in Mühlberg-Brandenburg); he was a lawyer, Dr. ing. h.c. and managing director of the Ringhoffer works (including Tatra and Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau), governor of the Czechoslovakian National Bank and Royal Norwegian Consul General.
Baron Franz von Ringhoffer II received several awards throughout his life, including the Knight’s Cross of the Franz Joseph Order and the honorary doctorate of Dr. technical h.c. from the German Technical University in Prague. He died of kidney disease during a stay at a spa in Bad Kissingen.
1896 - 1906
0
14
4
Round 1
Zdeněk (Jansky) Žemla 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
4-6
6-1
6-3
Round 1
R. Schlosser 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
6-2
6-0
Round 2
Major Josiah George Ritchie 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
6-2
6-2
Round 2
Franz von Ringhoffer 1 *
Graf Colloredo-Mannsfeld
5-7
6-4
6-4
Quarterfinals
Otto Von Muller 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
1-6
6-0
6-1
Round 2
Franz von Ringhoffer 1 *
M. Ledoux
6-2
6-4
Round 3
Benjamin Ward Frost 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
6-2
8-6
Round 2
Franz von Ringhoffer 1 *
Graf Colloredo-Mannsfeld
6-2
6-4
Quarterfinals
Rudolf (Rolf) Kinzl 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
6-2
6-1
Round 1
Carl H. Mascha 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
6-3
6-1
Unknown
Baron Lazarini 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
6-3
6-4
Round 1
Graf Leopold Abraham Maria von Nostitz-Rieneck 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
6-3
6-2
Round 1
Franz von Ringhoffer 1 *
Josef Cifka
6-3
6-3
Semifinals
E. von Pleschner 1 *
Franz von Ringhoffer
6-4
6-4