Wilhelm Mülhens was born 25 June 1762 in Troisdorf

Troisdorf

Troisdorf is a town in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis , in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Troisdorf is located approx. 22 kilometers south of Cologne and 13 kilometers north east of Bonn.-Division of the town:...

 and died 6 March 1841 in Köln

KOLN

KOLN, digital channel 10, is the CBS affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska. It operates a satellite station, KGIN, on digital channel 11 in Grand Island. KGIN repeats all KOLN programming, but airs separate commercials...

. He was a Cologne perfume designer and manufacturer, and the founder of the Mülhens company, famous for the fragrance "4711".

Life and work

Wilheml Mühlens was the sixth of eleven children of Jakob Mülhens and his wife Anna, nee Volberg. His life prior to 1796 is not well known.
In 1803 Carlo Farina, who was not part of the famous cologne-producing family, fraudulently sold William Mülhens that family's naming rights.

In 1805 Mühlens was first recorded as a cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

 manufacturer, later sold under the product name 4711 from 1881. After the Napoleonic wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

 his company also exported the cologne abroad, including Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and Stralsund

Stralsund

- Main sights :* The Brick Gothic historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.* The heart of the old town is the Old Market Square , with the Gothic Town Hall . Behind the town hall stands the imposing Nikolaikirche , built in 1270-1360...

.
In 1832 Wilhelm Mülhens was found guilty of abusing the name "Farina", and the 1803 contract was found to be void.
To continue operating under the name "Farina" in 1832 Wilhelm Mühlens son, Peter Joseph Mülhens, took on a Farina from Mortara as a partner in the company for "office work and supervision of fabrication."