The Schröder family is a Hanseatic family of Hamburg, that is, a family that belonged to the historical ruling class of grand burghers (also known more broadly in English as patricians) of the city republic prior to the constitutional changes in 1918–19. Christian Matthias Schröder (1742–1821), a native of Quakenbrück, became a Hamburg merchant and acquired the hereditary grand burghership. He founded the well-known firm Christ. Matthias Schröder & Co., with branches in Bremen, Amsterdam, London, St. Petersburg and Riga