Wilhelm Carl Eppingen Sponneck (16 February 1815, Ringkøbing – 29 February 1888) was a Danish nobleman (rigsgreve) and Minister of Finance. In 1863, he accompanied 17 year old Prince Vilhelm of Denmark to Greece where Vilhelm had just been elected king. Sponneck served as advisor to the king for a few years.
Sponneck graduated as a student of Sorø Academy in 1832 and took a law degree in 1836. He was employed in the Danish customs service and rose to a leading position in the 1840s after publishing a 600-page work about customs services. The king appointed him member of the Constitutional Assembly in 1848. The same year, he was appointed Finance Minister, an office he occupied in a total of five cabinets. He was first a supporter of the Unitary State with Holstein but during the First War of Schleswig he switched to a pro-Danish policy, and in 1850 he enacted a temporary law removing the customs differences between Denmark and Schleswig, and later the same year, he enacted a similar law abolishing the Danish-Schleswig customs border altogether. In 1850-51, he tried to introduce the income tax, a proposal rejected by Parliament. Sponneck's proposal to introduce stamps was more successful and the first Danish stamps were issued in 1851.[1]
In January 1851, Sponneck travelled to Berlin and conducted negotiations with Prussia and Austria trying to establish a peace settlement that maintained the Danish/Schleswig/Holsteinish union while securing extra close ties between the two first components. This initiative ultimately failed and following the conclusion of peace in 1851, Sponneck abandoned his pro-Danish sympathies and returned to defending the pre-war Unitary State.[2]. In 1853, Parliament rejected his proposal to remove the customs border between Denmark/Schleswig and Holstein by applying the same rates everywhere. Sponneck replied by enacting the law anyway citing the king's absolutist powers in the two duchies, consequently issuing the law in the name of the king.[3] After this turn of events, Parliament ultimately approved the law. He later tried to enforce the use of Danish coinage in Southern Schleswig and Holstein, a policy that gave him many enemies.[4] His popularity dropped even lower when he in 1854 proposed a return to absolutist royal rule in matters relating to Danish-Holsteinish affairs.[5] Sponneck left politics in 1854, and was appointed leader of the customs service, a position he occupied until 1863.
In 1863, the accompanied the future king of Greece to his new country. He remained in Greece for a few years, acting as advisor to the king.
Following his return to Denmark, his became involved in private enterprise. In 1866, he became chairman of the control commission for the Zealandic railways. In 1868, he became the director of the National Bank and joined the board of the Great Northern Telegraph Company. Sponneck later resigned these positions and became the leader of the newly-founded Kjøbenhavns Handelsbank and chairman for the insurance company, Danmark.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Adam Wilhelm Moltke |
Finance Minister of Denmark 16 November 1848 – 12 December 1854 |
Succeeded by Carl Christoffer Georg Andræ |