Emil von Boetticher

Emil Friedrich von Boetticher (1836–1907) was a politician, burgomaster of Riga and its representative on the Livonian state council. Boetticher was born 1 October 1836 at Riga, the youngest son to the Riga merchant and landowner Carl von Boetticher (1782–1859) and Emilie Wippert (1794–1855). He was the younger brother of the art historian Friedrich von Boetticher. He attended the private school of Pastor Albanus in Dünamünde and Engelhardtshof, in Livonia, from 1847 to 1853, after which he transferred to Hollandersche Privatlehranstalt, the school founded by Albert Woldemar Hollander, in Birkenruh near Wenden for his 'Abitur' (examinations taken in the final year of secondary school), which he passed a year later. From 1855 to 1858 he studied law in Dorpat, followed with study at Heidelberg and Berlin from 1859 to 1860, and study trips to France, Italy and Switzerland. After returning to Riga Boetticher became a trainee ('auskulant') at the city council in 1861, and became a council clerk in 1864. From 1865 he was a criminal court assessor (magistrates' assistant). In 1868 he became a city councillor, and served as churchwarden ('Kirchenvögte') to several churches in Riga. This was followed in 1870 by his appointment as President of Section II of the ecclesiastical Bailiwick Court, and in 1872, as its Chief Bailiff ('Obervogt'). From 1870, as a delegate advocate (syndic), he advised the city on legal matters. In addition he was, in 1871, the ecclesiastical inspector for St John's Church.