Jarl Werner Söderhjelm (26 July 1859 – 16 January 1931) was a Finnish-Swedish linguist, researcher of literary history and diplomat. Söderhjelm was born in Viipuri. His parents were Procurator Woldemar Söderhjelm and Amanda Olivia Clouberg. Through his family connections, he was exposed to a variety of languages and he took an early interest in literature. He graduated from Viipuri Classical Lyceum in 1877, graduated as a Bachelor of Philosophy, with a Master's degree in 1882, and as a Licentiate and Doctorate from the Imperial Alexander University in 1885. Söderhjelm was a docent of the new literature at the University of Helsinki from 1886 to 1889, Romanesque Philology as a Docent from 1889 to 1894 and an Extra Professor from 1894 to 1898. He worked as a Germanic philologist and professor of Romanesque philology from 1898 to 1908 as Professor of Romanesque Philology in 1908-1913. He applied for the professorship of aesthetics and modern literature in 1910, but was beaten to it by Yrjö Hirn. Finally Söderhjelm became professor of Finnish and general literary history from 1913 to 1919. Söderhjelm attended in the

Diet of Finland The Diet of Finland (Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riksda ...

as a member from the clergy from 1904 to 1905. In the early

1900s The 1900s may refer to: * 1900s (decade), the decade from 1900 to 1909 * The century from 1900 to 1999, almost synonymous with the 20th century The 20th (twentieth) century began on January 1, 1901 ( MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 ( MM ...

he belonged to the

Young Finnish Party The Young Finnish Party or Constitutional-Fennoman Party ( fi, Nuorsuomalainen Puolue or ) was a liberal and nationalist political party in the Grand Duchy of Finland. It began as an upper-class reformist movement during the 1870s and formed as a ...

's conservative wing and was a member of the Young People Party Central Committee from 1906 to 1907. After the independence of Finland, he served as Director in the

Finnish News Agency Finnish News Agency ( fi, Suomen Tietotoimisto, STT; sv, Finska Notisbyrån, FNB) is a Finnish news agency, established in 1887 and based in Helsinki. STT's majority owner is Sanoma Media Finland of the Sanoma Group. The Finnish public service br ...

in Copenhagen from 1918 to 1919 and as Envoy to Stockholm from 1919 to 1928. Werner Söderhjelm was married from 1884 to Sigrid Wilhelmina Lönnblad. They had four sons, the most famous being the writer and editor Henning Söderhjelm. His youngest son, J. O. Söderhjelm, served as a Minister of Justice during the Winter War. Werner Söderhjelm's sister was Finland's first female professor Alma Söderhjelm. Activist Konni Zilliacus was his cousin. He died in Helsinki, aged 71.

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