Ossian Donner (24 March 1866 – 2 August 1957) was a Finnish industrialist, engineer and diplomat.

Biography

Donner founded the

wool mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods s ...

Hyvinkää Hyvinkää (; sv, Hyvinge, ) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region, approximately north of the capital Helsinki. The city was chartered in 1960. The population of Hyvinkää is (). Its neighboring municipal ...

and served as CEO of the United Wool Factory until 1918. He built a house on Mauritzgatan 6 in

Kruununhaka Kruununhaka (; ) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Kruununhaka became the area next to the harbour and the center, when Helsinki was moved from the earlier location in the mid-1660s. From the very beginning, the residents i ...

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 ...

for his wife and two children in 1901. Since the early 1930s it is the seat of Svenska Klubben. During the

civil war in Finland The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

, his

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

wife, Violet McHutchen, saw Russian officers being executed in a park the near their home. Shocking war experiences forced the family to move to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where Ossian Donner became the Finland's Representative and later became Chargé d'affaires to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1919. During the

Åland Islands dispute The Åland Islands dispute was one of the first issues put up for arbitration by the League of Nations on its formation. Åland's population's demand for self-determination was not met and sovereignty over the islands was retained by Finland, b ...

, he was also Finland's Special Envoy at the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. He held a speech against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

which ended his diplomatic career. He was released from Finland as Envoy to

in 1925. After that, he settled permanently in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and gained

British citizenship British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...

. Ossian Donner belonged to the

Donner family The Donner family is one of the renowned and wealthy Finland-Swedish families that grew in importance during the times of the Grand Duchy of Finland. Family members have been influential in Finnish politics and culture. * Jürgen Donner (died c. 1 ...

. He was the son of Professor

Otto Donner Otto Donner (15 December 1835, Kokkola – 17 September 1909, Helsinki) was a Finnish linguist and politician. Biography He was professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Indo-European linguistics at the University of Helsinki, but also studied ...

, grandson of

Anders Donner Anders Donner (November 5, 1854 – April 15, 1938) was a professor of astronomy at the University of Helsinki observatory between 1883 and 1915. Before that, he served as a docent of astronomy between 1881–83. He was the rector of the unive ...

and brother of the linguist and right-wing activist

Kai Donner Karl (Kai) Reinhold Donner (1 April 1888 in Helsinki – 12 February 1935) was a Finnish linguist, ethnographer and politician. He carried out expeditions to the Ugric and Samodeic peoples in Siberia 1911–1914 and was docent The ti ...

. The British

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Patrick Donner Sir Patrick William Donner (4 December 1904 – 19 August 1988) was a British Member of Parliament (MP) and a member of the influential Finland-Swedish Donner family. His family moved from Helsinki, Finland, to London in 1919. His mother was Sc ...

was Ossian's son. Donner is buried at the St Andrew's Church cemetery in Hurstbourne Priors Civil Parish in Basingstoke and Deane Borough in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England. Donner Park is located in the center of Hyvinkää, where there is also a 14-meter Obelisk commemorating Donner's memorial, a commemoration of the wool industry and a fountain.

References

20th-century Finnish diplomats Donner family Finnish people of German descent 1866 births 1957 deaths Finnish emigrants to England Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 20th-century Finnish engineers Finnish business executives 19th-century Finnish businesspeople 20th-century Finnish businesspeople Engineers from Helsinki People from the Grand Duchy of Finland {{Finland-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References