Alfred Meyer-Waldeck (27 November 1864 – 25 August 1928), born Alfred Meyer, was a vice admiral in the Imperial German Navy. He was the final governor of the Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory from 1911 to 1914 and was most notable as the German naval commander in the Siege of Tsingtao during World War I.
Contents
Biography
Early life
Meyer-Waldeck was born Alfred Meyer in Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire on 27 November 1864, the eighth of ten children of Friedrich Meyer and Dorothea von Boursy. His father was a professor of German literature and the editor of the German-language newspaper St. Petersburgische Zeitung. The family moved to Heidelberg in the German Empire in 1874, where Friedrich Meyer, who as an author used the surname "Meyer von Waldeck," was a professor at Heidelberg University. Alfred attended Gymnasium in Bonn and Heidelberg, and finished his secondary schooling when he took the Abitur in 1883. He then studied for two semesters at Heidelberg University.
Career
Alfred Meyer left Heidelberg University, entered the Imperial German Navy as a cadet on 21 April 1884, and completed his basic training on the sailing frigate SMS Niobe. He made two voyages to the West Indies. He attended the Naval School from 26 September 1884 to 14 April 1885 and then served aboard the corvette SMS Moltke until 18 April 1887. He was appointed Seekadett (midshipman) on 16 April 1885, just after reporting aboard Moltke, and was promoted to Unterleutnant zur See two years later . He then served aboard the ironclad frigate SMS König Wilhelm until 7 October 1887. He attended the Naval School again from 8 October 1887 to 14 September 1888 and then served as a watch officer, first on Moltke until 30 April 1889 and then on Niobe until 28 September 1889. He then transferred to the 1st Naval Artillery Department as a company officer, serving there until 30 September 1890. He next served as a watch officer on the ironclad SMS Kaiser until 6 April 1891 and was promoted to Leutnant zur See on 15 December 1890 while aboard Kaiser.
From 7 April to 30 September 1891, Meyer served as watch and training officer on the brig SMS Musquito. He was then a company officer in the cabin boys' department and served as a watch officer on the training ship SMS Gneisenau from 1 April 1892 to 12 January 1893. Meyer then was assigned to the aviso SMS Wacht as first officer. From 1 April 1893 to 31 March 1895 he served at the German Imperial Naval High Command. He then transferred to the 1st Torpedo Department, in which he served as a company officer, guard officer, first officer, and torpedo boat commander. At the same time, he served as commander of the torpedo boat SMS D1 and flag lieutenant of the II Torpedo Boat Flotilla from 3 August to 21 September 1897. He was promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 12 April 1897. From 22 September 1897 to 31 May 1898, Meyer attended the I. Coetus at the German Imperial Naval Academy in Kiel. He was assigned to inspect the torpedo establishment for three months before he completed the II Coetus at the Naval Academy.
After successfully completing his studies, Meyer left for Panama, then a part of Colombia, on 1 May 1899 for duty as first officer on the unprotected cruiser SMS Geier. He reported aboard Geier while she was in the midst of an extensive tour of the west coast of the Americas. She visited Puerto San José, Guatemala, from 11 to 17 May 1899, meeting a British cruiser there, and the two ships settled financial disputes with the Guatemalan government. Geier then stopped at Corinto, Nicaragua; Guayaquil, Ecuador; and Puntarenas, Costa Rica. While at Corinto, she had received orders to proceed to the United States West Coast and British Columbia Coast in Canada. She stopped at Acapulco, Mexico, then arrived on 14 August 1899 at San Francisco, California, where she underwent a boiler overhaul. On 18 September 1899, she departed San Francisco, and after a stop at Esquimalt, British Columbia, arrived at Vancouver. She left Vancouver on 18 October 1899 and headed south. She visited ports in Chile in January and February 1900, including Puerto Montt on 14 February 1900, before heading north, to take up duties as the German station ship on the newly created West American station.
Later life
In retirement, Meyer-Waldeck lived in Berlin. Although he remained an unreserved supporter of colonialism and of the restoration of the German colonial empire, he stayed away from politics for the rest of his life. Because of ill health he visited the spa at Bad Kissingen in the summer of 1928, where he died on 25 August 1928. He was buried at Heidelberg in a family plot.
Personal life
In Kiel in 1898, Meyer married Johanna Ney (31 December 1880 – 20 August 1964), who came from Charlottenburg. The couple had a son — Hans, who was born in Charlottenburg on 23 July 1902 and died in 1965 — and two daughters, Hertha, who lived from 1906 to 1919, and Dagmar, who was born at Kiel on 25 June 1908 and died in 2005.
Honors and awards
Order of the Red Eagle 3rd Class (Kingdom of Prussia)
Order of the Crown 2nd Class (Kingdom of Prussia)
Service Award Cross (Kingdom of Prussia)
Commander 1st Class of the Order of Henry the Lion (Duchy of Brunswick)
Commander 1st Class of the Order of the Double Dragon of the Second Degree 1st Class (Qing Dynasty)
Order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain (Republic of China)
Grand Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph (Austria-Hungary)
Order of Saint Anna 3rd Class (Russian Empire)
Order of Saint Stanislaus 2nd Class (Russian Empire)