Johann Girard de Soucanton

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John Girard de Soucanton (born August 10 . Jul / 22. August  1826 greg. In Tallinn , Governorate of Estonia , † November 26 jul. / 8. December  1896 greg. In Kunda , Governorate of Estonia) was an Estonian industrialist.

Life

Johann (also John) Girard de Soucanton was born as the youngest son of Tallinn's mayor and councilor Johann Karl Girard de Soucanton (1785–1868) and his wife Eleonora Christina Johanna (born von Scheurmann, 1786–1861).

He attended the Knights and Cathedral School from 1836 to 1845 . In 1845/46 he studied economics at the Imperial University of Dorpat (now the University of Tartu) and from 1846 to 1849 agricultural science at the University of Jena .

In the 1850s he took over the estate in Kunda, Estonia, from his mother . In 1863 he was raised to the rank of baron by the Russian Senate. From 1867 he also owned the neighboring estate in Selja.

During his travels to France and Germany, Girard de Soucanton got to know the importance of Portland cement for construction. In Kunda he then founded a cement factory as a stock corporation in 1869/70, one of the first Russian empires . The chemist and industrialist Viktor Lieven (1841–1910), who was director of the factory from 1869 to 1890, played a key role in setting up and operating the cement works, which was based on local raw materials . In 1881 the owners had their own residential area built for the workers, the so-called Siberian village ( Siberi küla ) due to its location near forests and moors .

At the instigation of Johann Girards de Soucanton, the construction of the railway line between the Estonian capital Tallinn and Kunda, which began operating in 1896, the year of his death, also goes back.

Private life

In July 1852 Johann Girard de Soucanton married the Baltic German Auguste Henriette Wilhelmine (Welly) Häntschel (1828-1880). The couple had five children. After the death of his wife, he married Meta Rosenfeldt (1842–1911) in 1884. The marriage remained childless.

Web links

  • Entry in Eesti Entsüklopeedia (online version)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://epl.delfi.ee/news/kultuur/tsemenditehase-rajaja-bustid-kaardistavad-kunda-linna.d?id=51046363
personal data
SURNAME Girard de Soucanton, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Girard de Soucanton, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian industrialist
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1826
PLACE OF BIRTH Tallinn , Estonia Governorate
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 1896
Place of death Kunda , Estonia Governorate