Alfred Pelldram

Alfred Pelldram
Consul-General of Germany for Australia
In office 24 May 1888 – August 1897
Preceded by	Gustav Travers
Succeeded by	Peter Kempermann
Personal details
Born	1847 Sagan, Silesia, Prussia
Died	22 February 1906 (aged 58/59) Berlin, Prussia, Germany
Military service
Allegiance	Prussia
Service/branch	Prussian Army
Years of service	1867 – 1871
Rank	Leutnant
Unit	2nd Guards Uhlans
Battles/wars	Franco-Prussian War

Alfred Leopold Robert Moritz Pelldram (1847 – 22 February 1906) was a German diplomat who served as the Consul-General for Australia, Resident Minister to Haiti and Minister to Venezuela.

Early life and background

Born in Sagan in the Prussian Province of Silesia in 1847, Pelldram passed the matriculation examination in 1865, and studied jurisprudence at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin from 1866 to 1869. In 1867, whilst a student in Berlin, Pelldram entered the 2nd Guards Uhlans Regiment, a reserve cavalry guards regiment of the Prussian Army in Berlin.^[1]

He was promoted to Leutnant (the equivalent of Second Lieutenant) in 1869 and on the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, served with his regiment as a part of the 2nd Guards Infantry Division in the Second Army commanded by Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia. Pelldram served with distinction throughout the war, including in such engagements as Mars-la-Tour, Gravelotte, Sedan, the Siege of Paris, Orleans and Le Mans. For his service he received the Iron Cross Second Class in 1870.^[1]

With the end of the war and the establishment of the German Empire in 1871, Pelldram resumed his career in the law and was appointed to the law courts of Breslau and in 1873 was promoted to the Superior Court at Wiesbaden. In 1875, Pelldram was appointed an assistant Judge at Wiesbaden.^[1]

Diplomatic career

In 1876, Pelldram entered the service of the Imperial Foreign Office and a year later was posted to the Consulate-General in Odessa, Russian Empire and not long after as a Vice-Consul at the German Embassy in St. Petersburg under Ambassador Hans Lothar von Schweinitz. In 1881 Pelldram was sent to China to serve as Consul in Tientsin and then to Canton and Hong Kong in 1885.^[2] In 1886 Pelldram was sent to Cairo as Consul-General and then Consul for Caucasia and Transcaucasia at Tiflis in 1887.

In 1888 arrived in the Colony of New South Wales to serve as Consul-General of Germany for Australia based in Sydney, with additional responsibilities for New Zealand and Fiji.^[3] Pelldram was well receivedin the colony, with the Sydney Mail later noting: "In Herr Peldram we have a man of ' marked importance and ability,' and, as the Iron Cross conferred upon him testifies, of much higher qualities than the authority quoted laid down as a sine qua non."^[1] Pelldram served as acting-Consul for Austria-Hungary in 1893 and 1894 and consequently hosted Archduke Franz Ferdinand on his visit to Sydney in May 1893 on board the SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth.^[4] Pelldram also served as the Acting Consular Agent for Italy.^[5] Throughout his time in Sydney, Pelldram was assisted by the German Consul in Sydney, Carl Ludwig Sahl, who often officiated in his absence. When Sahl died in early 1897 Pelldram officiated at his funeral.^[6] In August 1897 Pelldram departed Sydney to take up an appointment as Consul-General in Antwerp.^[7]

In 1900 Pelldram was appointed as the German Resident Minister for Haiti in Port-au-Prince and in 1903 took up his final appointment as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Venezuela in Caracas. Serving until 1906, Pelldram, in ill health returned to Germany and died in Berlin on 22 February 1906.^[8]

Honours

• Iron Cross, Second Class (1870).^[1]

References

1. "Herr Pelldram, CONSUL-GENERAL FOR GERMANY AND DOYEN OF THE CONSULAR BODY.". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW: National Library of Australia). 6 October 1894. p. 699. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
2. The London Gazette: no. 25536. p. 5869. 4 December 1885. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
3. The London Gazette: no. 25820. p. 2954. 25 May 1888. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
4. Monteath, Peter (14 June 2014). "How Archduke Franz Ferdinand took in the sights - through his sights". The Australian. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
5. "Government Gazette.". Evening News (Sydney, NSW: National Library of Australia). 3 April 1895. p. 5. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
6. "Death of Consul Sahl.". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW: National Library of Australia). 10 April 1897. p. 769. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
7. "TELEGRAMS.". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW: National Library of Australia). 27 July 1897. p. 5. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
8. "Pelldram, Alfred, deutscher Diplomat". woerterbuchnetz.de. Trier Center for Digital Humanities. Retrieved 8 December 2015.