Erik Gustaf Boström

Erik Gustaf Boström

Contemporary caricature by Boström on the consular issue between Sweden and Norway (1905)

Contemporary caricature by Boström on the trade flag dispute between Sweden and Norway (1905)

Erik Gustaf Boström (born February 11, 1842 in Stockholm ; † February 21, 1907 there ) was a Swedish politician and twice Prime Minister .

Family, studies and professional career

Boström's family was related to the revival preacher and founder of Laestadianism , Lars Levi Læstadius . However, his grandfather took the family name Boström. His father, Eric Samuel Boström, was President of the Stockholm District Court . His younger brother Filip August Boström was President of the Södermanland Province , his son Wollmar Boström, among other things, ambassador to the United States and tennis player . His uncle Christopher Jacob Boström was professor of philosophy at Uppsala University and had a significant influence on the philosophy of Sweden. Eva von Bahr , the daughter of his sister Elisabeth Boström, was Sweden's first female physics professor.

Boström himself began studying at Uppsala University in 1861 , which he had to finish in 1863 after his mother's death in order to manage his parents' property in Östanå, as his father had died in 1854. As a young man, he avoided completing his military service by paying a ransom. Over time, he became a successful farmer.

Through his marriage in 1871 he also became the son-in-law of judge and minister Ludvig Almqvist.

Political career

Member of the Reichstag

Boström began his political career in January 1870 when he was elected a member of the Stockholm Provincial Parliament , of which he was a member until 1891 and of which he was chairman for six years. As a farmer, he was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Agricultural Society of Stockholm Province.

In 1875 he was elected member of the Second Chamber of the Reichstag . During his membership in parliament, which lasted until 1893, he was one of the leading proponents of protective tariff policy , which he promoted in particular as a member of the extraordinary budget committee and the banking committee. From 1887 to 1890 he chaired the budget committee.

After leaving the Second Chamber, he was a Member of the First Chamber from 1893 until his death as a representative of the Stockholm District.

Prime Minister 1891–1900

On July 10, 1891, he was appointed Prime Minister for the first time by King Oskar II, succeeding Gustaf Åkerhielm . Between November 6, 1894 and March 15, 1895, he was also Minister of Finance.

The conservative Boström was an undisputed capacity in matters of constitutional law. He wanted to keep the union with Norway . However, the Swedish government did not agree to deploy Norwegian envoys abroad as requested by Norway. That is incompatible with the character of the Union. At the session of the Reichstag on January 20, 1892, a new army order was presented, which, however, was only adopted after a few changes on November 23. The country was then divided into six army districts, compulsory military service was extended to 20 years and the training period was set at 90 days.

As in almost all European countries, there was also an increase in social democracy in Sweden , which the government of Gillis Bildt sought to combat in 1889 through a labor protection law and a tightening of the criminal law. Both the Social Democrats and radical parties advocated universal suffrage . To promote this, a so-called “People's Reichstag” met in Stockholm on March 13, 1893. It was elected by all those excluded from the right to vote and addressed petitions to the government, parliament and the king to obtain universal voting rights.

The king did not answer directly in the negative, but he rejected the demands of the Norwegian radicals, which were aimed at the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway. The king received support from both chambers, which in April 1893, with large majorities, spoke out against the Norwegian demands on the consular issue.

Finally, a government proposal sparked heated debates that would finally determine the number of MPs. So far it had risen as the number of voters increased. By resolution of the Reichstag on March 1, 1894, the number of members of the First Chamber grew to 150, that of the Second to 230 (150 from cities, 80 from the country).

The last important decisions during his first term of office were the resolution of the Reichstag in 1900 to secure the city ​​of Boden with a fortress because of its strategically important location . On September 12, 1900, Boström resigned after defeat in the elections and votes.

After the end of his first reign he was chairman of the Nobel Foundation from 1900 until his death in 1907 .

Prime Minister 1902–1905

On July 5, 1902, he was appointed Prime Minister for the second time by the King to succeed Fredrik von Otter . During this term of office, the ore railway was completed in 1903 , which runs from southeast to northwest from Luleå in Sweden on the Gulf of Bothnia via the iron ore mining areas of Malmberget and Kiruna to the Norwegian port of Narvik .

However, his second term was soon marked by the crisis in the Swedish-Norwegian Union. For this reason he resigned on April 13, 1905 and was replaced by Johan Ramstedt .

University Chancellor

After resigning as Prime Minister, he became Chancellor of Lund and Uppsala Universities in 1905 . In this function he tried in vain to have the teaching post of Bengt Lidforss , who was not only an associate professor of botany and biology at the University of Lund, but also one of the leading figures of the socialist movement. Because he did not succeed in withdrawing his teaching license, he resigned temporarily, but soon resumed his office as Chancellor and continued to do so until his death.

literature

• Erik Gustaf Boström . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 1 : A-K . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 122 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

Web links

• Biographies of the Prime Ministers and their Cabinets

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sweden . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , supplementary volume 1891-1892, page 820f
2. ↑ Chairperson and Executive Directors of the Nobel Foundation