Background
Von Bodelschwingh-Velmede was born in Velmede, near Hamm in the County of Mark.
Von Bodelschwingh-Velmede was born in Velmede, near Hamm in the County of Mark.
After serving as a one-year volunteer in the Guards Rifles Battalion he studied law, and then entered public life, serving in a string of posts from 1837-1845: as Landtag in Hamm, Oberregierungsrat in Minden, vice-president of the Regierungsbezirk of Münster, and president of the Regierungsbezirk of Arnsberg.
In 1849 he entered politics at the Prussian level, entering the Abgeordnetenhaus (the Prussian lower house) as a conservative delegate. He served as Finance Minister from 1851-1858 under Otto Theodor von Manteuffel and again from 1862-1866 under Otto von Bismarck. He resigned in 1866 from an unwillingness to take on the responsibility of procuring funds for the Austro-Prussian War.