Carlos Werner

Carlos Werner Richter (23 September 1864 – 31 December 1926) was a Chilean industrialist and politician of the Liberal Party. He served briefly as senator of the Republic representing the 8th Provincial Grouping (Arauco, Malleco and Cautín) in 1926.

Biography He was born in Osorno on 23 September 1864, the son of Johann Gottlob Werner Wendler and Anna Sophie Dorothea Richter Schulz. He married Selma Schömber, and they had three children.

He studied at the German School of Valdivia. At the age of fifteen he began working in the nitrate industry, becoming an administrator by the age of twenty-two and later serving as chief and general director of several German nitrate companies. He subsequently developed business activities in industry, agriculture and mining.

In 1898, as member of the board of the nitrate company Fölsch & Marti, he participated in negotiations to obtain authorization to use the waters of the Loa River for the construction of a reservoir intended to supply the Santa Fe nitrate office.

In 1907 he acquired, together with Federico Wolff, the Bellavista-Tomé textile factory, where he promoted its modernization and expansion. In later years he became the sole owner of the company. He also owned several mines, factories and agricultural estates, including the Catamuntún estate near La Unión, which he purchased in 1919.

Political career Werner was a member of the Liberal Party. In 1924 he accepted the party's nomination as candidate for deputy, though he was not elected.

He was later elected senator for the 8th Provincial Grouping (Arauco, Malleco and Cautín) for the 1926–1934 period, but died shortly after taking office in 1926.

Other activities He was an active member of various civic and social institutions. He served as leader of the Club Social and collaborated with the First Fire Company of Tomé, which later granted him honorary membership. He was also a founding member of the Club La Unión of Tocopilla.

For health reasons he later settled in Viña del Mar. In November 1926 he travelled to Hamburg, Germany, where he died on 31 December of the same year. His remains were later transferred to Viña del Mar.