Moses Melchior (28 January 1825 – 25 November 1912) was a Jewish Danish businessman. He was a co-owner of Moses & Søn G. Melchior, a trading house founded by his grandfather.

Early life and education

Melchior was born into a wealthy Jewish family 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 Gerson Moses Melchior (1771–1845) by his second wife Birgitte (Jette) Melchior née Israel (1792–1855). His father was second generation in the trading house Moses & Søn G. Melchior. He received a commercial education in Jacob Holm & Sønner.

Career

Moses Melchior's elder brother

Moritz G. Melchior Moritz Gerson Melchior (22 June 1816 – 19 September 1884) was a Jewish-Danish businessman. He headed the trading house Moses & Søn G. Melchior from 1845. He owned the property at Ploug House at Højbro Plads 21 in Copenhagen as well as the coun ...

became the sole owner of Moses & Søn G. Melchior when their father died in 1845. Moses Melchior joined him as a partner in 1850. After Moritz G. Melchior's death in 1884, Moses Melchior took over the management of the company in collaboration with his nephew Carl Henriques Melchior. Melchior was a board member of Det Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab, chairman of , and a board member of .

Public life and charity

Melchior 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 1869 to 1984. He was a member of the Maritime and Commercial Court () from 1883 to 1905 and of 's committee from 1885 to 1904. He was cashier for and vice president of , and chairman of . He was also active in a number of Jewish associations and organisations. He was thus active in and chairman of , member of the central committee. He was also active in a number of charities. He was a board member of , chairman of

Arbejdernes Byggeforening Arbejdernes Byggeforening ( lit. "The Workers' Building Society") was a Danish building society founded in Copenhagen in 1865 to provide healthy homes for the city's workers, especially those from the Burmeister & Wain factory. At the time of its f ...

from 1870 until his death (a member from 1867), He served as cashier for and sat on the governing board of . He founded Henriette Melchiors Stiftelse with affordable accommodation for widows of artists and scientists, naming it after his sister Henriette Melchior (–1902).

Personal life and legacy

Moses Melchior remained unmarried and had no children. As part of the Melchior family, Moses Melchior was a close friend of the writer

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

. He participated in the celebration of his 65 years birthday. Melchior died on 25 November 1912 and is buried in the Jewish Northern Cemetery in Copenhagen. An obelisk in the centre of the Kildevæld Quarter commemorates his role in the establishment of . The memorial is from 1916 and was created by

Ludvig Brandstrup Ludvig Brandstrup (16 August 1861 – 13 May 1935) was a Danish sculptor. He is remembered above all for his Christian IX statue, Esbjerg, equestrian statue of Christian IX in Esbjerg but was also one of the most competent portraitists of his day ...

. He is seen in

Laurits Tuxen Laurits Regner Tuxen (9 December 1853 – 21 November 1927) was a Danish painter and sculptor specialising in figure painting. He was also associated with the Skagen Painters. He was the first head of Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler, an art school ...

's oil painting (1906).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melchior, Moses 19th-century Danish businesspeople 19th-century Copenhagen City Council members Burials at Jewish Northern Cemetery (Copenhagen) Businesspeople from Copenhagen Danish Jews 1825 births 1912 deaths