Edvin Leonard Bergroth (26 December 1836 – 29 March 1917) was a Finnish engineer, businessman and

vuorineuvos Vuorineuvos ("mining counselor", literally Finnish for "mountain counselor"; sv, bergsråd) is a Finnish honorary title granted by the President of Finland to leading figures in industry and commerce. The title is honorary and has no responsibilit ...

. Bergroth studied engineering in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

. After returning to Finland, he worked for the

Finnish State Railways VR-Group Plc ( fi, VR-Yhtymä Oyj, sv, VR-Group Abp), commonly known as VR, is a government-owned railway company in Finland. VR's most important function is the operation of Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long-distance and 800 co ...

and a

gasworks A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

, until he moved to

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

to work for

Branobel The Petroleum Production Company Nobel Brothers, Limited, or Branobel (short for братьев Нобель "brat'yev Nobel" — "Nobel Brothers" in Russian), was an oil company set up by Ludvig Nobel and Baron Peter von Bilderling. It operated ...

. When he returned to Finland in 1890, he worked in many companies. Bergroth managed the newly re-established Hietalahti Shipyard and Engineering Works in 1895–1900. Between 1905 and 1915, Bergroth was board member of Tampere Linen and Iron Industry. As a chairman, he initiated several development projects which grew the company and improved its productivity. Bergroth was married twice. Four of his children lived until adult age.

Early life and studies

Bergroth's parents were Pihlajavesi chaplain Johan Mikael Bergroth and Emma Lovisa née Cajanus; the father died when Bergroth was just six years old. He did his matriculation exam in Nikolaistad Gymnasium in 1857 and went to study engineering. After getting a scholarship, he continued in Hannover Polytechnic School in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

in 1858 and graduated engineer in 1860.

Career in Hannover, Helsinki and Caucasus

Bergroth worked for the Royal Prussian

Mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

in Hannover until 1861, and, upon returning to Finland, for a short time for the

. Bergroth managed construction of Leppäkoski railway bridge in 1862. In the same year, Bergroth was appointed Technical Manager of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Gas Illumination Company. The company was a private monopoly, that had been granted in 1860 an exclusive permit for street illumination until 1900 in those areas of Helsinki, where it had built the network. Bergroth travelled to Germany and Switzerland for a field trip visiting the local gas works and collecting knowledge. At the time, he left the company in 1884, he had become its manager. Bergroth moved to

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, where he earned a Technical Manager vacance. Bergroth returned to Finland in 1890, after which he worked for a number of companies. Until 1892, he was inspector in Finnish Sawmills Fire Assistance Association. One of the employers was

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

, where he worked from 1890 until 1913. By time, Bergroth gained reputation as businessman. When Hietalahti Shipyard and Engineering Works was re-established after bankruptcy on 18 November 1895, Bergroth was selected its first manager.Osakeyhtiö Hietalahden...: ''Laivatelakka osakeyhtiönä.'' pp. 48–57. During his leadership, the company enlarged its premises and invested heavily on facilities and machinery. Considering the limited amount of capital and the market situation, Bergroth's management was successful. He left his position in 1900, but continued as board member after that. By the 1880s, city of Helsinki had become increasingly dissatisfied on Bergroth's old employer, the gas illumination company, which was unwilling to invest on new light technology and produced gas inefficiently by burning wood. In November 1899, the city took over the gas distribution; Bergroth was appointed to the board of the new City of Helsinki Illumination Works.

Tampere Linen and Iron Industry

In 1905, Bergroth became board member in Tampere Linen and Iron Industry company and in the following year he became chairman of board. The company underwent thorough renewal under Bergroth's chairmanship, and many of the changes were initiated by him. The company invested on new buildings and machinery for linen production, increasing both capacity and productivity. During the economic upswing prior to

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 ...

, the company invested on production of various yarn types,

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

sailcloth Sailcloth encompasses a wide variety of materials that span those from natural fibers, such as flax, hemp or cotton in various forms of sail canvas, to synthetic fibers, including nylon, polyester, aramids, and carbon fibers in a variety of wove ...

and

plain weave Plain weave (also called tabby weave, linen weave or taffeta weave) is the most basic of three fundamental types of textile weaving, weaves (along with satin weave and twill). It is strong and hard-wearing, and is used for fashion and furnishin ...

for bedclothes. The investments continued also during the war, when new linen storage and

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...

facility were built. Bergroth left the board in 1915.

Political career

Bergroth was member of

Helsinki City Council The City Council of Helsinki (, ) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland. The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport. The 85-seat Council's members a ...

in 1875–1877, 1880–1882 and 1897–1899. He represented Helsinki

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

Diet of Finland The Diet of Finland (Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riksda ...

in 1882 and 1899. Bergroth took part in number of state committees, Swedish-speaking technical association, voluntary fire brigade activities and charity work.

Personal life

In 1864, Bergroth married Lydia née von Essen, daughter of professor

Carl Gustaf von Essen Carl Gustaf von Essen (20 March 1815 – 22 July 1895) was a Finnish Pietistic priest. Essen got into influence of Pietism at an early age. He studied theology but his views which differed from the official line of the church delayed his ordinat ...

and Catalina Sofia née Arppe. Between 1865 and 1871, they had three daughters and four sons. After Lydia Bergroth's death in 1872, he was married to Evelina née Bergroth, whose parents were

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

Carl Edvard Bergroth and Carolina Amalia née Stenbäck. They had a son in 1876. In total, four of Bergroth's children survived until adult age.

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergroth, Edvin Finnish engineers Finnish chief executives Finnish businesspeople Tampella 1836 births 1917 deaths