Henry Christian Louis Dunker (6 September 1870 – 3 May 1962) was a Swedish businessman and industrialist in
Helsingborg
Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...
, Sweden.
His father was the founder of
Helsingsborgs Gummifabrik AB (
sv), also known as Tretorn AB, a manufacturer of rubber products which Dunker established as an international business.
At the time of his death in 1962, Dunker was Sweden's wealthiest man. His fortune was donated to the improvement of the city of Helsingborg.
Early years
The Dunker family had its origin in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
.
The family lived in
Esbjerg
Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022) ,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
when Henry was born in 1870. Henry was two years old when his father Johan Dunker, who was an engineer at the time, was asked to lead the work and building of property at the Port of Helsingborg.
Business
![Helsingsborgs Gummifabrik AB, 1901](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Helsingsborgs_Gummifabrik_AB%2C_1901.jpg)
In 1891, Dunker's father Johan founded Helsingsborgs Gummifabrik AB. The
rubber footwear produced by the factory was of poor quality, so the younger Dunker travelled to Russia to learn how to produce better rubber.
During a visit to
Saint 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 ...
, Russia, he did not find any new material, but in
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
, Latvia he met chemist Julius von Gerkan, who agreed to help him improve the rubber formula.
His company was known for creating a rubber that was soft when cold but not sticky when the weather improved.
![Henry Dunker byst](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Henry_Dunker_byst.jpg)
In 1894, Dunker took over control of the factory and, after some time, expanded the factory.
In 1905, Dunker, along with Johan Kock, changed the Velox factory in
Trelleborg
Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of December 31, 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian peninsula. It is one of the mo ...
into the Trelleborgs gummifabrik.
Through a network of sales offices not only in Sweden but also in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, Berlin and
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Dunker gained better control over the distribution chain. With time, the rubber products produced by his company expanded to include tennis balls, shower caps and tires. In 1912, Dunker created a cartel with the purpose of increasing its competitive power abroad.
Prices for the rubber increased in Sweden but were lowered abroad.
Dunker gave his workers free healthcare and
subsidized
A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...
medicine.
He installed wooden floors in his factories to improve the comfort of his workers. In 1911, he started a day care facility (''barnkrubban'') to provide care for his employees' children during the workday,
a phenomenon that began in the 1850s but was still unusual in the early 20th century.
In 1961, at 90 years of age, Dunker was still chair of the board of his company Trelleborgs Gummifabriks AB. The business employed 5,000 people and had a floor area of .
Death and legacy
![Dunkers kulturhus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Dunkers_kulturhus.jpg)
Dunker was married to Gerda Sylvan (1879–1936), a daughter of the merchant August Sylvan and Gustava Eleonora Lundgren.
Dunker died in 1962 in Helsingborg. Upon his death, he
willed his fortune to the Henry and Gerda Dunker Foundation which subsequently funded many improvements to Helsingborg.
[ The Henry and Gerda Dunker Foundation, together with the Henry and Gerda Dunker Donation Fund No. 2, own the majority voting interest of ]Trelleborg AB
Trelleborg AB is a global engineering group focused on polymer technology, with headquarters in Trelleborg, Sweden, with 21,230 employees and with yearly revenue of 33.8 billion SEK as of 2021. The company first went public in 1964 and currently ...
. Dunker is buried at Donationskyrkogården in Helsingborg.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunker, Henry
1870 births
1962 deaths
Swedish business executives
Swedish industrialists
People from Esbjerg
People from Helsingborg