Meyer Herman Bing (4 June 1807 – 15 September 1883) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

businessman. He was a co-founder of

Bing & Grøndahl Bing & Grøndahl was a Danish porcelain manufacturer founded in 1853 by the sculptor Frederik Vilhelm Grøndahl and merchant brothers Meyer Hermann Bing and Jacob Herman Bing. The trademark backstamp for Bing & Grøndahl (B&G) porcelains is the t ...

Early life and education

Bing was born 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 ...

, the son of bookseller

Herman Jacob Bing Herman (Heiman) Jacob Bing (16 March 1776 - 10 March 1844) was a Jewish-Danish educator and bookseller. He was a co-founder of Copenhagen's first Jewish school (Bing & Kalich's Institute) in 1803 and established a book shop in 1820 which was later ...

(1776–1844) and Sara Meyer (1776–1848).

Career

Bing started working in his father's book and paper shop as a child. Its name was changed to H. J. Bing & Søn when he became a partner in 1833. He continued the firm in a partnership with his four years younger brother Jacob Herman Bing after his father's retirement in 1838. He opened a combined art and gallantry shop at the corner of Kronprinsensgade in 1848. It was recognized as the most elegant shop in Copenhagen and was even prior to its official opening visited by Christian VIII. It was one of the first shops in the city with street-level

shop window A display window, also a shop window (British English) or store window (American English), is a window in a shop displaying items for sale or otherwise designed to attract customers to the store. Usually, the term refers to larger windows in the ...

s. , as it was now called, was also publishing its own books. The previously founded lithographic workshop Bing & Ferslews lith. Etablissement was expanded with a book printing and stereotype business. This firm was in 1857 taken over by Jean Christian Ferslew and H. J. Bing & søn was in 1863 ceded to Bing's son Jacob Martin Bing and son-in-law Benny Henriques. Vesterbrogade med Bing og Grøndahls fabrik 1856

Vesterbrogade med Bing og Grøndahls fabrik 1856

Bing was, together with his brother J. W. Heyman and D. Halberstadt & Komp, also the owner of . He was also planning the establishment of an amusement park in Copenhagen several years prior to

Georg Carstensen Johan Bernhard Georg Carstensen (31 August 1812 – 4 January 1857) was one of the developers of Tivoli Gardens and a Danish army officer. He spent most of his childhood in the Near East. He travelled widely and had a career in the military Royal ...

's establishment of

Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli, is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klam ...

but the plans were never realized. In 1852, Frederik Viihelm Grøndahl invited the Bing brothers to join him in the establishment of a production of

biscuit porcelain Biscuit porcelain, bisque porcelain or bisque is unglazed, white porcelain treated as a final product, with a matte appearance and texture to the touch. It has been widely used in European pottery, mainly for sculptural and decorative objects th ...

figures and reliefs. The Bing brothers were interested but wanted to start a proper porcelain factory with a wider range of products. The first buildings were completed at

Vesterbrogade Vesterbrogade () is the main shopping street of the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The 1.5 km long street runs from the City Hall Square in the east to Pile Allé in Frederiksberg in the west where it turns into Roskildevej. O ...

the following year. The factory was faced with considerable adversity from the beginning and Bing was ready to close it when Grøndahl died in 1856, but his brother convinced him to continue the operations.

Other activities

Bing was a member of the

Copenhagen City Council The Copenhagen City Council (Danish: ) is the municipal government of Copenhagen, Denmark, and has its seat at Copenhagen City Hall. The city council is Copenhagen's highest political authority and sets the framework for the committees' tasks ...

from 1858 to 1877. He was president of from 1868 to 1871. He was also director of the two Jewish schools in Copenhagen.

Personal life

Bing married Eva Simonsen (1809–1883), daughter of textile merchant Levin S. (1780–1843) and Ester Henriques (1785–1852), on 9 November 1831. He was the father of Frederik Bing and Herman Bing (1845–1896). They had the following children: * Jacob Martin Bing (1833–1903) * Betzy Louise Bing (18 October 1834 – 1916) * Frederik Moritz Bing (1839–1912) * Rosa Bing (25 September 1842 – ?) * Herman Meyer Bing (1845–1896) * Laurids Martin Bing (1850–1903) * August Bing (3 August 1851 – ?) He died on 15 September 1883 in

Skovshoved Skovshoved is a former fishing village on the Øresund coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The area is part of Charlottenlund postal district and Gentofte Municipality. Local landmarks include Skovshoved Church, Sjovshoved Hotel and the listed Ar ...

and is buried in the Jewish Northern Cemetery in Copenhagen.

References

External links

Meyer Herman Bing
at geni.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Bing, Meyer Herman 19th-century Danish businesspeople 19th-century Copenhagen City Council members Burials at Jewish Northern Cemetery (Copenhagen) Businesspeople from Copenhagen 1807 births 1883 deaths Danish Jews