Betty Ehrenborg, married name Posse af Säby (22 July 1818 – 22 July 1880), was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

writer, psalm writer and pedagogue. She is regarded as the founder of the Swedish

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

Life

Katarina Elisabeth (

nicknamed A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

Betty) Ehrenborg was the daughter of the noble

Parliamentary Ombudsman Parliamentary Ombudsman ( fi, Eduskunnan oikeusasiamies, sv, Riksdagens ombudsman, is, Umboðsmaður Alþingis, da, Folketingets Ombudsmand, no, Sivilombudet) is the name of the principal ombudsman institutions in Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Norw ...

Casper Ehrenborg Casper Isaac Michael Ehrenborg (17 November 1788 – 16 September 1823) was a Swedish politician. He was born in Allerum on 17 November 1788 to parents Jöns Ehrenborg and Beata Maria Tham. His maternal grandfather was military officer Isak Tham ...

and the writer Anna Fredrica Carlqvist. She was raised at the family estate Råbäck at

Kinnekulle Kinnekulle is a flat-topped mountain in the county of Västergötland, Sweden, on the eastern shore of lake Vänern. Its highest point is above sea level. The mountain is long and wide at the top. Geology Despite its enormous size, Kinnekul ...

. Her sister Maria Ulrika (Ulla) Ehrenborg was the wife of Bishop

Ebbe Gustaf Bring Ebbe Gustaf Bring (4 July 1814 – 13 August 1884) was a Swedish bishop in the Church of Sweden and theologian. Biography Bring was born in Askersund, Örebro County in 1814, to city physician and assessor Sven Håkan Bring and Ulrika (Ulla) Sof ...

. In 1842, she and her mother moved to Uppsala to be near her brother,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

, who studied at Uppsala University. In Uppsala, she attended several of the university lectures, though she was merely a member of the civil audience and not a student, and she became a part of the Uppsala intellectual life of the 1840s. She worked as a governess in 1846–1848. She got to know Swedish Baptist pioneer brothers

Gustaf Palmquist Gustaf Palmquist, also Palmqvist, (26 May 1812 – 18 September 1867) was a pioneer Swedish Baptist pastor and missionary in Sweden and the United States. He was one of three brothers, including Johannes and Per Palmqvist who were active early i ...

and Per Palmqvist in 1851. Ehrenborg traveled to England around that time, possibly with the brothers, and learned about the Sunday school programs there. While in England she stayed with

Mathilda Foy Mathilda (or ''Mathilde'') Foy (or ''Foj''), also known as ''Tante Esther'', (10 November 1813 – 1 November 1869), was a Swedish philanthropist and writer, known for her charitable work. She is known as a pioneer of the Sunday school, and as ...

, who introduced her to Carl Olof Rosenius' teachings. In 1852–1853, she studied at the

British and Foreign school The British and Foreign School Society (BFSS) offers charitable aid to educational projects in the UK and around the world by funding schools, other charities and educational bodies. It was significant in the history of education in England, suppo ...

in London. She remained in contact with the Palmqvist brothers and they encouraged her to publish "". After returning to Sweden, she established a Sunday school in 1854 with 13 mostly free-church and Baptist students. She founded and managed a Sunday school on her brother's estate in 1855–1856. Her Sunday school moved to Bethlehem Church in 1873. In 1854, she co-founded the

Fruntimmersällskapet för fångars förbättring Fruntimmersällskapet för fångars förbättring ('Women's Society for the Reform of Prisoners') was a charitable society founded in Stockholm in Sweden in 1854. The purpose of the society was to visit female prisoners and work for their rehabilita ...

in Stockholm with Foy, writer Fredrika Bremer, deaconess

Maria Cederschiöld Hedvig ''Maria'' Reddita Cederschiöld (29 June 1856, Stockholm – 19 October 1935, Stockholm), was a Swedish journalist and women's rights activist. She was the chief editor of the foreign office at ''Aftonbladet'' in 1909–1921, and the first ...

, and Emilia Elmblad, founder of the Stockholm home for reformed prostitutes. In 1863, she married Baron Johan August Posse. She died in Södertälje in 1880.

Works

*" Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (Swedish-language lyrics, "Blinka lilla stjärna") *" Visan om solen, månen och planeterna" ("The song about the sun, moon and planets") *" Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus" (Swedish-language lyrics: "

När juldagsmorgon glimmar "När juldagsmorgon glimmar" (Swedish for "When Christmas morning glimmers") is a Swedish Christmas song. Betty Ehrenborg-Posse wrote the text in 1851 to the tune of the German student song from 1819, "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus". Ch ...

References

Sources

K Elisabet (Betty) Posse, urn:sbl:7371, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (article by Oloph Bexell), retrieved 2015-09-04.

Life

Works

References

Sources

Further reading