Johann Heinrich Burchard

Who is Johann Heinrich Burchard?

Johann Heinrich Burchard was a Hamburg lawyer and politician who served as senator and First Mayor and President of the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

Burchard was born in Bremen, a member of the Hanseatic Burchard family, the son of banker Friedrich Wilhelm Burchard and Marianne Gossler, a granddaughter of Senator and banker Johann Heinrich Gossler and a great-granddaughter of Johann Hinrich Gossler and Elisabeth Berenberg. His father was a merchant in Bremen, who in 1853 became a partner of the Berenberg Bank owned by his wife's family. The family then relocated to Hamburg.

As a typical Hanseat, he rejected noble titles and any form of awards.

A portrait of Burchard by Max Liebermann is displayed at Hamburg's representation in Berlin.

In 1877, he married Emily Henriette Amsinck, a daughter of Wilhelm Amsinck. His oldest son, Wilhelm Amsinck Burchard-Motz, was also a Hamburg senator and Second Mayor.

Johann Burchard died in Hamburg, aged 60.