Struensee was born in Halle in 1737. Piety, rigour and duty were the guiding principles of his upbringing and his education at the Francke Foundations. At the age of 20, having studied medicine, he followed his father to Altona in Denmark. As a city physician and doctor to the poor of Altona and the Pinneberg district, Struensee managed to combat the spread of disease by improving hygiene practices and introducing smallpox vaccinations.
Unlike most of his colleagues, Struensee visited even those patients living in the most miserable conditions, and treated many of them for free. He developed a new understanding of disease transmission based on observation and experience, and rejected the traditional “theory of the humours”, deeming it pure superstition.
Unknown artist
Oil on canvas, around 1768
Bomann Museum Celle
BM00443
This painting, purchased in 1959 from the collection of the Danish antiquarian Svend Aage Meyer, shows Struensee possibly during his time in Altona.
Print, 1763
Bomann-Museum Celle
Library, Collection Sven Aage Meyer
In an essay published anonymously in the Hamburg monthly journal Monatsschrift zum Nutzen und Vergnügen, Struensee lamented the high mortality rate among the population – the result of medical ignorance, superstitious ideas, poor hygiene and inadequate midwifery and neonatal care. He therefore called for state reforms to healthcare in those areas.
Johann Christian Gottfried Fritzsch
Copperplate engraving, second half of the 18th century
Bomann Museum Celle
BGR00557
Adam Struensee was initially a pastor in Halle and a theology professor at the university there. In 1757 he was appointed senior pastor in Altona in Denmark. Two years later he became Royal General Superintendent of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. For the most part, he rejected Enlightenment influences on the Church.
Copperplate engraving, second half of the 18th century
Bomann Museum Celle
BGR00558
The talents of Johann Friedrich Struensee’s brother Carl August, who was two years older than him, lay in the fields of mathematics and philosophy. In 1769 Struensee brought him to Copenhagen, where Carl August helped his brother reform the Danish financial system. After the fall of Struensee, he became finance minister in Prussia.