Desmercières, Jean Henri
Born 8.5.1687 in Paris. Died 1778 in Copenhagen. Buried initially at the Reformist Church (both French and German) in Gothersgade, Copenhagen, and was later moved to Flemhude Church (BibLek III) (Janssen, 2014)
Family
Father - Huguetan, Jean Henri, a book merchant and later bankier (Desmercières was an illegitimate child). The construction of his name Jean Henri came from his father's names, and the Desmercières allegedly came from his mistress who worked as a fashion designer in Rue des Merciers in Paris. His father did not deny his kinship with Desmercières, but he did not wish for his son to inherit his own huguenot surname (Janssen, 2014)
Mother: ?
Timeline
1720 - Given a position to lean the trade at his father's business enterprise in London (Janssen, 2014). After this time, Desmercières spent some time in Berlin as chamberlain to Frederik Wilhelm I (Janssen, 2014)
1727 - Konferensraad (BibLek III)
1732 - Owned 10.5% of all stocks of the Asiatic Company. (Rostgaard Nissen, 2002, p. 175)
1736 - His father provided Desmercières with a place as deputy in Kommercekollegiet in Denmark (BibLek III)
1741 - Owned 13.25% of all stocks of the Danish Asiatic Company. (Rostgaard Nissen, 2002, p. 175)
1745 - Gehejmeraad with the title of excellency (BibLek III) (Janssen, 2014)
1736-1767 - Worked for Kommercekollegiet, including a brief period as president (i.e. minister of finance) (January to March 1767). He was given responsibiliy for the area of fishing, but had a keen interest in banking and the trading companies (BibLek III) (Janssen, 2014)
1751 - Established the connection for the marriage between Bernstorff and Buchwald, Charitas Emilie von from Holstein. (Janssen, 2014)
1751 - Married to Friis, Elisabeth Sophie of the old noble family, Friis. They never had any children, Desmercières was 64 years old at the time of their marriage (Janssen, 2014)
1755 - Gehejmekonferensraad
1755 - Owned 5% of all stocks of the Danish Asiatic Company. (Rostgaard Nissen, 2002, p. 175)
1755 - Partial in the establishment of the African Company
1768 - Knight of the Order of the Elephant (BioLek III)
1776 - Enobled (BioLek III)
Property
Inherited a mansion in rococo-style on the corner of Bredgade and Dronningens Tværgade from his father. (Aakjær et al, III, 1947, p. 66)
1743-1764 - Owned the Emkendorf estate near Kiel, amongst others.Emkemdorf was a very large estate that comprised more than 5000 hectar of land (BibLek III) (Janssen, 2014)
Partial in the establishment of Kurantbanken (BibLek III) (Janssen, 2014) His large inheritance at 440.688 Rigsdaler was left to a fideicommis to both his nieces, Marguerite de Monteleone, th.e Countess Knuth on Fyn and Anna de Monteleone, the princess Reuss in Schleswig Holstein (Janssen, 2014). In his testament, he had decided to grant 200.000 Rigsdaler to the Reformist Churches in Copenhagen and Fredericia (Janssen, 2014)
