HENRY JOACHIM CHRISTIAN VIGGO VON MOLTKE 1940 - 2025

It is with deep regret that we inform ODs of the sad passing of Henry von Moltke.  

Henry died on Monday, 22 September 2025. He was the descendant of an illustrious German family. His great grandfather was the First World War Prussian General of that name. His uncle was Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, who was executed by the Nazis as a resistance fighter in 1945. The family had a strong Cape connection in that Henry’s grandmother, Dorothy Rose Innes, was the daughter of an early Chief Justice of South Africa, Sir James Rose-Innes.

Henry’s father, Joachim, grew up on the family estate in Kreisau, Silesia. He became an art historian.  During the war he was drafted into the military in Europe. In March 1948 he emigrated with his family to South Africa, where he worked for 15 years as an art history lecturer at the Michaelis and UCT, and as deputy director of the South African Art Gallery. Young Henry came to Bishops as a result of this family connection with the Cape. He was at Bishops from 1950-1958 and after school at university where he obtained a B.A. Degree. He then returned to Europe where he spent the rest of his life.

Henry started his banking career at Manufacturers Hanover Trust in 1974 and left Chase in 2001. In the early 1980s Henry spent over three years working for the bank in  Bucharest, Romania. Subsequently, he was based in Germany for about 15 years,  involved in the global banking business of a bank which ultimately merged with Chase. 

Following his retirement from banking he and his wife Ingeborg lived in Röttingen in Bavaria, Germany.