Hermann de Pourtalès

Count Hermann Alexander de Pourtalès (31 March 1847 – 28 November 1904) was a Swiss sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.[1][2]

Hermann de Pourtalès

Personal information
Full name	Hermann Alexandre de Pourtalès
Nationality	Swiss
Born	31 March 1847 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Died	28 November 1904 (aged 57) Geneva, Switzerland
Sailing career
Class(es)	1 — 2 ton
Club	Union des Yachtsmen
Medal record Sailing Representing   Switzerland Olympic Games 1900 Paris 1 to 2 ton 1st race 1900 Paris 1 to 2 ton 2nd race
Updated on 8 May 2015.

Early life

Pourtalès was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland on 31 March 1847. He was a son of Count Alexandre Joseph de Pourtalès (1810–1833) and the former Auguste Saladin (1815–1885).[3] His sister, Isabelle Marguerite de Pourtales, was the wife of archaeologist Henri Édouard Naville, a prominent Egyptologist who found a statue of Ramesses II at Bubastis.[4]

His paternal grandparents were Louis de Pourtalès (a brother of James-Alexandre de Pourtalès and Frédéric de Pourtalès, grandfather of Friedrich von Pourtalès) and Sophie de Guy d'Audanger.[5] His nephew was Bernard de Pourtalès.[6] The Pourtalès family were French Huguenots who settled in Neuchâtel following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.[4] His maternal grandfather was Antoine Charles Guillaume Saladin.[7]

Career

Pourtalès was a captain of the Cuirassiers of the Guard, in the service of the King of Prussia Wilhelm I who later became the German Emperor.[8]

Olympic career

He was a member of the Swiss boat Lérina, which won the gold medal in the first race of 1 — 2 ton and silver medal in the second race of 1 — 2 ton class. He also participated in the open class, but did not finish. His wife Hélène and nephew Bernard were crew members.[9]

Personal life

Pourtalès was married to Marguerite "Daisy" Marcet (1857–1888), a daughter of William Marcet, president of the Royal Meteorological Society. In 1887, the family returned to Switzerland, where they lived first at Malagny, near Versoix, in the Canton of Geneva. Together, they were the parents of:[10]

• Count Guy de Pourtalès (1881–1941), an author who married Hélène Marcuard in 1911.[8]
• Count Raimond Pourtalès (1882–1914), attache of the German embassy, who married Countess Luise Alexandra von Bernstorff (1888–1971), daughter of Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador to the United States[11] in 1911.[12] The wedding, which took place in Washington, D.C. was attended by William Howard Taft, who was then the President of the United States.[12] After his death in 1914, she remarried to Prince Johannes Baptista of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1880-1956), the youngest son of Charles, 6th Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg.[13]
• Constance Catherine Henriette de Pourtalès (1884–1973), who married Jules Jean Alfred Frossard de Saugy.[14]
• Augusta von Pourtalès (1886–1972), who married Otto von Mitzlaff, an officer in the Uhlans Guard.[8]

After the death of his first wife in 1888, Pourtalès remarried to American heiress Helen Barbey in 1891.[15] She was a daughter of Henry Isaac Barbey and Mary Lorillard Barbey and a granddaughter of Pierre Lorillard III[16][17] Her sister Eva was married to André Poupart, Baron de Neuflize (son of Baron Jean de Neuflize the older brother of the Countess of Bessborough).[18][19] After their marriage, they lived at Mies in the Canton de Vaud.

Count de Pourtalès died on 28 November 1904 in Geneva.

References

1. "Hermann de Pourtalès Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympic Sports. Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
2. "Hermann de Pourtalès". Olympedia. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
3. Joseph, John E. (2012). Saussure. OUP Oxford. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-19-969565-2. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
4. L'Alsace Noble (in French). 1870. p. 52. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
5. Neues Allgemeines Deutsches Adels-Lexicon: Ossa - Ryssel. Voigt. 1867. p. 231. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
6. Joseph, John Earl (2002). From Whitney to Chomsky: Essays in the History of American Linguistics. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 2. ISBN 978-90-272-4593-9. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
7. Saint-Allais, Nicolas Viton de (1835). Annuaire historique, généalogique et héraldique de l'ancienne noblesse de France (in French). L'auteur. p. 372. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
8. van Berchem, Mathieu. "Diary of an unusual man's adventurous war". swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
9. Exposition Universelle Internationale de 1900, Concours D'Exercices Physiques et de Sports (PDF) (in French). Imprimerie Nationale. 1901. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
10. Piguet, Laure (2016). From unmarried girl to married woman. The correspondence of Augusta de Pourtalès (1903-1918). Clio. Women, Gender, History 2016/2 (No 44). Retrieved 10 May 2020.
11. "YOUNG COUNTESS TO MARRY; Daughter of Ambassador von Bernstorff Engaged to Count Pourtales". The New York Times. 11 December 1910. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
12. "PRESIDENT ATTENDS EMBASSY WEDDING; Countess von Bernstorff, Daughter of the German Ambassador, Married to Count Pourtales". The New York Times. 28 March 1911. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
13. Watzdorf-Bachoff, Erika von (1997). Im Wandel und in der Verwandlung der Zeit: ein Leben von 1878 bis 1963 (in German). Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 430. ISBN 9783515070621. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
14. Genève, Université de; Stelling-Michaud, Sven; Stelling-Michaud, Suzanne (1959). Le livre du recteur: de l'Académie de Genève (1559-1878) (in French). Librairie Droz. p. 371. ISBN 978-2-600-03194-3. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
15. "Hélène de Pourtalès Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympic Sports. Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
16. Shrager, Mark (April 1, 2016). The Great Sweepstakes of 1877: A True Story of Southern Grit, Gilded Age Tycoons, and a Race That Galvanized the Nation. Guilford, Connecticut: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781493018895. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
17. "MISS BARBEY ENGAGED.; Daughter of the Late Henry Barbey of New York to Wed Gilbert Elliott". The New York Times. 3 August 1910. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
18. "MISS DE NEUFLIZE ENGAGED IN PARIS; Her Betrothal to Baron Jean de Watteville Berckheim Is Annotinced MARCH WEDDING PLANNED Bride-to-Be Is a Granddiughter of-Late Mr and Mrs. Henry Barbey of New York". The New York Times. 21 February 1937. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
19. "MISS DE NEUFLIZE BRIDE IN CATHEDRAL; She Is Married in Paris to Baron Jean de Watteville-Berckheim of Alsace". The New York Times. 13 March 1937. Retrieved 18 February 2018.