Jacob Letterstedt (December 15, 1796 – March 18, 1862), born Lallerstedt in Östergötland, 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 ...

businessman who settled in the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

(part of present-day

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

). He arrived at

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 1820, where he made his fortune in the grain trade. Later he founded the company that became

South African Breweries South African Breweries (officially The South African Breweries Limited, informally SAB) is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-B ...

. In 1839 he was appointed acting Consul of

Sweden-Norway Sweden and Norway or Sweden–Norway ( sv, Svensk-norska unionen; no, Den svensk-norske union(en)), officially the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and known as the United Kingdoms, was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Sweden ...

, in 1841 ordinary Consul and in 1857 Consul General. Letterstedt donated money to several prizes and to the Letterstedt Association, which promotes Nordic cooperation. In 1860, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The same year he returned to Europe and was living in

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 ...

at the time of his death.

References

External links

Jacob Letterstedt
in ''Riksarkivet'' * Swedish businesspeople 1796 births 1862 deaths Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Swedish emigrants to South Africa {{Sweden-business-bio-stub