Johan Ludvig Holstein, Lensgreve til Ledreborg (7 September 1694 – 29 January 1763) was a Danish Minister of state from 1735 to 1751.
He was the ancestor of the Holstein-Ledreborg family, including Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg and Knud Johan Ludvig, Lensgreve Holstein til Ledreborg, husband of Princess Marie Gabriele of Luxembourg. In 1739 he built Ledreborg Manor near Lejre, Denmark.
The Danish colony Holsteinsborg on Greenland (now Sisimiut), was named after him.
Early life
Johan Ludvig was the son of Johan Georg Holstein, who would himself become Danish prime minister, and Ida Frederikke Joachime of the Bülow family. He was born on 7 September 1694, at the Lübz castle which belonged to his maternal grandmother. His tutors during his upbringing included J. W. Schröder who later would go on to tutor Christian VI of Denmark. In 1711 his father sent him to Hamburg where he studied with Johann Albert Fabricius for a year. Subsequently, he studied and traveled at various places in Germany, the Netherlands, France and England until 1716, when he became a courtier and civil servant in Denmark.
Career in Denmark
He obtained the position of marshal of the court to Crown Prince Christian (later King Christian VI) in 1721. In 1727, he became a member of the College of Missions where his father was president, and the same year he also became director of the Waisenhuset, an orphanage King Frederick IV founded that year.
When Christian VI became king in 1730, he appointed Holstein stiftsamtmand (amtmann and co-administrator of the diocese with the bishop) of Zealand and amtmann of Copenhagen and Roskilde. In 1740, he also replaced Rosenkrantz as patron of the University of Copenhagen. In 1757, he additionally became first member of a special agricultural committee which was operative for several years. He also studied philosophy and history. He served as president of the Academy for the rest of his lifetime and the meetings were held at his residence.
At his death Holstein left a library of 20,000 books, as well as a collection of handwritten manuscripts. Both are now in the Royal Library in Copenhagen.