Alfred Nicolai Benzon (4 December 1823 – 19 December 1884) was a Danish pharmacist and industrialist. He was the proprietor of the Swan Pharmacy on Østergade in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and founder of Denmark's first pharmaceutical company Alfred Benzon A/S. The company was later continued by his sons

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

and Otto Benzon.

Early life and education

Benzon was born in

Stubbekøbing Stubbekøbing () is a town with a population of 2,196 (1 January 2024) ...

Falster Falster () is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010.

, the son of merchant Lorenz Jacob Benzon (1790–1864) and Kirstine Hansen (1793–1862). From 1838 he was apprenticed to Gottfried Becker in the Royal Court Pharmacy in

. He earned the

MPharm The Master of Pharmacy is a postgraduate degree in pharmacy, awarded upon the completion of postgraduate coursework or an integrated undergraduate-postgraduate curriculum. Typically, this program lasts for four to five years. Australia In 2004 ...

degree in 1845 and was then employed by court pharmacist Rudel in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

and a pharmaceutical company in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

before continuing his pharmaceutical studies in Bonn.

Career

The company was founded by Alfred Nicolai Benzon on 1 January 1849, when he acquired the pharmacy Svane Apotek on Østergade in Copenhagen and at the same time established a wholesale business. In 1863 he established a chemical factory at Kalvebod Beach. In 1877 he established Teknisk Materialhandel at

Ny Østergade Ny Østergade ( lit. "New East Street") is a street in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark, linking the Østergade section of the pedestrian street Strøget in the south with Christian IX's gade in the northwest. Together with the intersecting st ...

Personal life and legacy

Benzon married Anna Dorothea Vilhelmine Østergaard (20 July 1823 – 25 July 1893), daughter of merchant Peter Larsen Østergaard (1778–1836) and Anna Britta Holmstrøm (1781–1856), on 17 July 1849 in the Garrison Church in Copenhagen. They had two sons. In 1874, Benzon was created a Knight in the Order of the Dannebrog. He died on 19 December 1884 and is buried at

Assistens Cemetery An Assistens Cemetery () is a cemetery that functions as an expansion of another, older cemetery often in relation to a city church. Already by the end of the 17th century, Danish authorities deemed that the conditions for inner-city cemeteries we ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benzon, Alfred 19th-century Danish businesspeople 19th-century Danish pharmacists Businesspeople from Copenhagen Danish pharmaceutical company founders Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog 1823 births 1884 deaths