Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,Togoland

[Peter H]

Duke Adolf Friedrich Albrecht Heinrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,Governor of Togoland 1907-1911.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Adolf ... ecklenburg


http://www.picrare.com/Royalty_Digest/R ... icles3.htm

A curious cutting from the Daily Telegraph records that when Togoland celebrated its independence from France in March, 1960, they wished to invite a distinguished outside figure. They settled on the 86-year-old Duke of Mecklenburg, who had governed Togoland on behalf of Imperial Germany from 1907 until 1911. He died, aged 95, in August, 1969.

The Duke in Turkish service 1916.

[Chris Dale]

A fascinating character....

..other sources (www. and wikipedia) give his dates of governorship of Togo as from 19.06.1912 - 26.08.1914. He was away when the First World War broke out and therefore was succeeded by Deputy Governor Döring.

... I always thought it was odd that the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin would serve as governor of Togo. I've only just realised he was the tenth child of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II, and therefore not the Grand Duke of M-S, but only one of several Dukes of M-S.

Does anyone have any more information or photos of him?

Cheers
Chris

[Dave Danner]

August 26, 1914 is listed as the end date for his governorship because that's the day the colony surrendered to the Allies. Technically, the Germans still considered Herzog Adolf Friedrich the governor, pending winning the war and regaining their colonies.

The 1918 Handbuch für das deutsche Reich still lists him as governor and von Doering as 1st Referent:

[Chris Dale]

I found another photo of him in the Frankfurt Archives ( http://www.stub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-frankfurt.de/ ).

Cheers
Chris

[Dave Danner]

Those decorations on the ribbon bar don't match Duke Adolf Friedrich's awards.

[Chris Dale]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the quick response to be honest I couldn't identify the medals. That's odd though... the text at Frankfurt University says it's him.... http://www.stub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-fran ... 030250voll
The rank insignia looks like that of a full colonel, rather than a Lt Col as the rank list has him. Colonels in the colonies were pretty rare... any ideas who this photo could be if it's not the Duke?

Cheers
Chris

[Dave Danner]

The medals on the ribbon bar are:

- Iron Cross 2nd Class
- ? (possibly Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross 2nd Class)
- Bavarian Military Merit Order with Swords
- Saxe-Meiningen Cross for Merit in War
- ?
- Hamburg Hanseatic Cross
- Bremen Hanseatic Cross
- Lübeck Hanseatic Cross
- something Bulgarian on the war ribbon with swords
- something Ottoman with sabers

All of these are WW1 decorations. The excerpt I posted above lists only the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Classes as WW1 decorations for Adolf Friedrich.

It is possible that this is Adolf Friedrich and the excerpt is wrong. I checked the rolls and Adolf Friedrich did in fact receive the Bavarian Military Merit Order 3rd Class with Swords on 13 November 1914. It seems odd that this is missing from the list above, and even odder if he had all of those other ones above and none but the EK were listed. The rolls of the other awards have not been published but I have friends who have some of them. I can check and see if they've found Adolf Friedrich.

[Chris Dale]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the medal identifications, they're very helpful. Then again I can't read the medal abreviations in the Rangliste so I can't compare them.

Am I right in thinking it was quite common for royalty to recieve medals from various states and allies? So it would look like a royalty selection of medals?

Very odd that he's wearing a tropical uniform, yet he can't have been in the colonies with his EK's awarded in WW1 as Togo was long lost by then...

Another odd thing is the style of tropical helmet. It is not the standard Schutztruppe issue, probably a privatley purchased item. The only other identical helmet I've seen in a photo is worn by another Togo officer.

If it's not the Duke then I'm running short of ideas as to who it could be. It's all a bit of a mystery isn't it?

Cheers
Chris

[Dave Danner]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the medal identifications, they're very helpful. Then again I can't read the medal abreviations in the Rangliste so I can't compare them.

Am I right in thinking it was quite common for royalty to recieve medals from various states and allies? So it would look like a royalty selection of medals?

Very odd that he's wearing a tropical uniform, yet he can't have been in the colonies with his EK's awarded in WW1 as Togo was long lost by then...

Another odd thing is the style of tropical helmet. It is not the standard Schutztruppe issue, probably a privatley purchased item. The only other identical helmet I've seen in a photo is worn by another Togo officer.

If it's not the Duke then I'm running short of ideas as to who it could be. It's all a bit of a mystery isn't it?

Cheers
Chris

The first post in the thread indicates he was in the Ottoman Empire in 1916.

He had plenty of medals that aren't shown on that bar, ranging from long service to various jubilees. Most of his courtesy awards as a royal were 1st class or higher single class orders, such as Prussia's Order of the Black Eagle with Chain and Saxe-Weimar's House Order of Vigilance or the White Falcon 1st Class. These would be sash badges, not worn on medal bars.

You usually don't see all three Hanseatic Crosses except on naval officers, given the maritime connections of those city-states. I would not be surprised to see them on a Mecklenburger, though.

[Peter H]

I think the photo is of Julius Graf Zech auf Neuhofen,the prior Governor of Togoland:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Nep ... f_Neuhofen

[Peter H]

From: http://www.ullsteinbild.de

However photos from the Museum of Togo,German governors.The photo in question on top left.Identified as the Duke.

[Peter H]

Westfront 1917

[Dave Danner]

I think the photo is of Julius Graf Zech auf Neuhofen,the prior Governor of Togoland:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Nep ... f_Neuhofen

Graf Zech died in 1914.

I'm pretty sure now that the entry from the 1918 Handbuch für das deutsche Reich is in error and is missing the duke's other WW1 awards.

[Peter H]

1951,German Olympic Committee.

Duke third from right.

[Seesoldat]

Recently I read a book about German-Finish cooperation in WWI. The author mentioned, that the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was for a short period of time one of the Kaiser´s favorites for the vacant throne of Finland after its independence from Russia in 1917/1918.

Seesoldat