 A branch of the Gossler family was granted the name Berenberg-Gossler by the Hamburg Senate in 1880 and was later—controversially in the republic of Hamburg, which did not recognise the concept of nobility—conferred baronial rank by the Kingdom of Prussia.Several family members served as senators in Hamburg in the 19th and early 20th century, and Hermann Gossler was head of state in 1874.Richard J. Evans describes the family as one of Hamburg's "great business families."