Benjamin Wegner Nørregaard (3 October 1861 – 24 April 1935) was a Norwegian military officer,

railway engineer Railway engineering is a multi-faceted engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction and operation of all types of rail transport systems. It encompasses a wide range of engineering disciplines, including civil engineering, compu ...

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme sp ...

, journalist, diplomat and internationally renowned war correspondent. He spent several years in China and served as Minister of Labour in the Tianjin Provisional Government during the Boxer Rebellion. He later worked as a war correspondent for the '' Daily Mail'' and for Scandinavian newspapers, and covered several conflicts in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. He is especially known for his books ''The Great Siege'', on the

siege of Port Arthur The siege of Port Arthur ( ja, 旅順攻囲戦, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; russian: link=no, Оборона Порт-Артура, ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russ ...

during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, and ''War'', on the Boxer Rebellion.

Career

Nørregaard graduated as an officer in 1881 and became a captain in the field artillery in the

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

in 1894. Described as an

, he left the country in 1895 without permission of his military superiors, effectively ending his military career, and in the following years, he lived in

during a period marked by upheavals and war. He worked as a railway engineer for the Imperial Chinese Railways from 1896 to 1900. During the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, he was employed by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

as head of the Ministry of Labour in the Tianjin Provisional Government, which governed the major city

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

and surrounding areas, a position he held from 1900 to 1902. He was also the architect of the new, monumental government building in Tianjin. He rose to journalistic prominence as a war correspondent of the '' Daily Mail'' during the

(1904–05) and during the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

(1912–13). He witnessed the

Siege of Port Arthur The siege of Port Arthur ( ja, 旅順攻囲戦, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; russian: link=no, Оборона Порт-Артура, ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russ ...

and published the book ''The Great Siege: The Investment and Fall of Port Arthur'' ( Methuen Publishing, 1906) and the book ''War'' (1908) on the Boxer Rebellion, which were "written with great journalistic talent."Omang, Reidar (1959), ''Norsk utenrikstjeneste II: Stormfulle tider 1913–28''. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, p. 52. From 1906 to 1908, he lived in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

as a foreign correspondent of the Norwegian newspaper ''

Morgenbladet ''Morgenbladet'' is a Norwegian weekly, newspaper, covering politics, culture and science. History ''Morgenbladet'' was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg. The paper is the country's first daily newspaper; however, Adresseavi ...

'' and the Danish newspaper '' Vort Land'', and gave a vivid portrayal of the revolutionary turmoil in Russia. In 1909, he relocated to Berlin as a correspondent for ''Morgenbladet''. In the same year, he was appointed a "secret press envoy" to Berlin and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

for the

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian (Bokmål): ''Det kongelige utenriksdepartement''; Norwegian (Nynorsk): ''Det kongelege utanriksdepartement'') is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on June ...

, a position he held until 1911. From 1911, he was permanently employed by ''

''. He also wrote for the Swedish newspaper ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ' ...

''. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was among the leading commentators on the ongoing war in the neutral countries.''

Hvem er hvem? ''Hvem er hvem?'' ( en, Who is Who?) was a Norwegian book series, presenting facts about notable persons from Norway. The first edition was issued in 1912, and the 14th edition came in 1994. In the 2008 edition, edited by Knut Olav Åmås, one tho ...

'' 1912 In addition to writing on war and foreign policy, he was a

food writer Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians. Definition Food writers regard food as a substance and a cultural phenomenon. John T. Edge, an American food ...

, and wrote humorous short stories. He was a son of the Norwegian colonel and aide-de-camp to king Charles

Hans Jacob Nørregaard Hans Jacob Nørregaard (born 13 June 1832 in Christiania, died 30 March 1900) was a Norwegian colonel, aide-de-camp to king Charles and chairman of the Christiania Military Society. He studied at the Norwegian Military Academy and the Norwegian ...

and Sophie Wegner. His mother was a daughter of the industrialist

Benjamin Wegner Jacob Benjamin Wegner (21 February 1795 – 9 June 1864) was a Norwegian business magnate, estate owner and timber merchant. Born in Königsberg, East Prussia, he moved to London in 1819 and to Berlin in 1820, where he established an independ ...

and Henriette Seyler, of the Hamburg

Berenberg-Gossler-Seyler banking dynasty The Berenberg family (Dutch for "bear mountain") was a Flemish-origined Hanseatic family of merchants, bankers and senators in Hamburg, with branches in London, Livorno and other European cities. The family was descended from the brothers Hans ...

. He was a brother of the noted lawyer Harald Nørregaard and of wine merchant and consul in

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tarr ...

Ludvig Paul Rudolf Nørregaard. He married Wilhelmine Sissenère in 1898. She was formerly married to the Norwegian cabinet minister and Director-General of the

Norwegian State Railways Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train services and many bus services in Norway. The company is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Its sub-brands include Vy Buss coach s ...

Hans Nysom. He had no children. He is mentioned as a military and foreign policy commentator in ''

'' during the

in the novel '' Lillelord'' by

Johan Borgen Johan Collett Müller Borgen (28 April 1902 – 16 October 1979) was a Norwegian writer, journalist and critic. His best-known work is the novel ''Lillelord'' for which he was awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 1955. He was ...

Honours

* Tianjin Provisional Government Medal in Gold (one of only 12 issued to members of the Tianjin Provisional Government)

Works

*Benjamin Wegner Nørregaard, ''Port Arthurs beleiring'', Aschehoug, Kristiania, 1905, 256 pages, illustrated *Benjamin Wegner Nørregaard, ''The Great Siege: The Investment and Fall of Port Arthur'', Methuen Publishing, 1906, 308 pages *Benjamin Wegner Nørregaard, ''Krig: Skildringer og Oplevelser'', Aschehoug, Kristiania, 1908, 168 pages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norregaard, Benjamin Wegner 1861 births 1935 deaths Norwegian people of German descent Norwegian expatriates in China Norwegian expatriates in Russia Norwegian war correspondents War correspondents of the Russo-Japanese War Daily Mail journalists Morgenbladet people Dagens Nyheter journalists Norwegian food writers People of the Boxer Rebellion Politicians from Tianjin Norwegian Army personnel Norwegian diplomats