Johann Hinrich Köser

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Johann Hinrich Köser 1835–1921

Johann Hinrich Köser (born July 4, 1835 in Twielenfleth ; † January 7, 1921 in Hamburg ) was a German-English entrepreneur . He founded the German fish auction system and laid the foundation for the company H. Köser , which has existed for over 150 years and where he worked as a grocer, forwarder, shipowner and sworn fish auctioneer.

biography

He was born in the Altes Land as the son of the buoy layer Claus Köser and his wife Catharina Adelheid, daughter of an Elbe pilot from Bassenfleth. Johann Hinrich Köser left home in 1851 at the age of 16 and went to sea as a steward for several years. In 1856 he married Anni Vincent, who was born in Hull in May 1836, was naturalized in England and in 1862 gave up seafaring .

In 1862, Köser founded his trading business H. Koser Fruit and Potato Merchant and Commission Agent in Hull ( Kingston upon Hull ) with branches in Grimsby and Liverpool . The "H" in the company name means "Henry" as a translation of his middle name.

In 1867 Köser returned to Germany and opened another location for the company for import and export of food with a forwarding agency in Hafenstrasse in Hamburg St. Pauli .

Johann Hinrich Köser initially traded mainly in apples from the Altes Land. The fruit export soon expanded to include bilberries and plums; in addition, after a while, he also started exporting yeast. Köser carried all of his goods destined for England on a newly established steamship line between Hamburg, Hull and Grimsby.

There was a rivalry between Hamburg and Altona , which particularly concerned the handling of fish. This competition found its artistic expression in the Stuhlmannbrunnen . In the 19th century, fish was still supplied to the end consumer in an unregulated trade chain . There was no auction system for this. The fishermen sailed out on Ewern to catch on the Elbe and into the German Bight . Middlemen drove to meet them on the river as travel buyers, bought the freshly caught goods from the seafarers and sold them on land at the fish markets in Hamburg and Altona. The profit for the middleman lay in the fact that neither at sea nor on the coast was known the price level of the other counterparty .

Since Johann Hinrich Köser was familiar with auctions for the auction of fish from England , he applied to the Hamburg Senate in 1885 to be sworn in as a fish auctioneer . This took place on November 20, 1886. The finance deputation decided “to allow the Köser to hold public fish auctions in the St. Pauli market hall, provided that he will comply with the legal requirements and subject to revocation at any time”. The Hamburg authorities obliged him to comply with the “General Hamburg Auction Regulations of 1871”.

Also in 1886, Köser had the Neuwerk pilot transfer steamer converted into a fish steamer at the Janssen & Schmilinsky shipyard .

He returned as Solea on November 19, 1886 with 4,000 pounds of fish from the first voyage. On November 20, 1886, the first German fish auction was held under the direction of Johann Hinrich Köser in the St. Pauli market hall. The entire catch of the Solea found its market price .

Certificate issued by Johann Hinrich Köser

Following the Friedrich Busse from Bremerhaven , Köser put the second German fish steamer into operation and thus established the Hamburg era of drive technology, which is important for modern deep-sea fishing . Köser initially took care of shipping business on his own account. In addition, there was the management of the fishing steamer Platessa , Gadus and Rhombus , built by his brother Ratje Köser for fishing , which exceeded the 25 m long Solea with a length of 31 m .

The auction as a new form of fish sales made it possible to sell unusually large quantities of fish in an astonishingly short time. For fishermen, the fish trade on land and consumers, this is a considerable advantage over the conventional method. After Köser, Gustav Platzmann was sworn in as another fish auctioneer for Hamburg in 1887. He held his first auction on March 14, 1887. Both entrepreneurs shaped the Hamburg and Altona fish auctions well into the 20th century.

Numerous fishmongers migrated from Altona to Hamburg. Due to these economic losses, the Prussian suburb was forced to start a fish auction as well. In June 1887 the Altona magistrate appointed the fishmonger and former travel buyer Johann Cohrs as a fish auctioneer. The responsible Altona city council set three conditions for the new position: The auctioneer had to leave a deposit of 1,000 marks as a guarantee for compliance with the auction conditions, should submit a monthly list of auction sales for statistical purposes and was no longer allowed to act as a travel buyer. Between the “Straße an der Elbbrücke” and the fishermen's landing site, the magistrate had a warehouse demolished in 1887 and a wooden auction hall 29.3 m long and 22.2 m wide built on the vacated site . This was the forerunner of the fish auction hall built in 1895/96 , which was also initially used by Cohrs.

Letterhead from the company H. Köser with Altona fish auction hall

In 1908 the fish auctioneer responsible in Altona, Johann Cohrs, died. The magistrate did not allow a woman (Cohr's widow) to continue the business, looked for a suitable applicant and so Johann Hinrich Köser received the offer to take on this task. From his point of view, better fishing and auction facilities than in Hamburg-St. Pauli for it. The loss of sales in Hamburg and the possible decline in sales due to the change of auctioneer made him hesitate at first. Together with his sons Walter and Arthur, he decided to accept the offer.

Kösers brought four fish steamers with them to Altona. The high demand led to further new buildings to expand the fishing fleet, which took place with financial participation from companies and private individuals.

In 1908 Köser founded a fresh herring import company with his sons Walter and Arthur, another mainstay of the family business. As Arthur Köser & Co. it had mainly Scandinavian and English connections.

The father passed the auction business on to his son Walter, while Arthur continued to run the fish trading company. The fruit trade with branches in England, which the third son Harry had run, had been closed for economic reasons.

Johann Hinrich Köser died after a short illness. He was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg.

The H. Köser company , based in Bremerhaven since 1968 , is now a delicatessen manufacturer with mail order business. The import house Arthur Köser & Co. is also based in Bremerhaven.

Trivia

To load the ships, Köser used a trick that gave the goods he had posted a quality advantage. To do this, he had the coachman direct the horse-drawn vehicle through side streets until the ship was almost completely loaded. An agreed signal meant that he was only delivered to the curb at the last moment. In this way, sensitive fruits were “loaded on top” at the end. They enjoyed comparatively good ventilation during the crossing and were the first to be cleared in the destination port.

literature

  • Käthe Molsen: H. Köser Fischxport-Fischimport-Fischversand 1862–1962 (Hamburger Wirtschaftschronik 1965 - Research and Reports from the Hanseatic Habitat . Volume 2, Issue 4. Ed .: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle in Hamburg)
  • Adelheid Biesecker , Stefan Kesting: Microeconomics: An introduction from a social-ecological perspective . Illustrated edition, new edition, Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 2003, page 317ff.
  • Ingo Heidbrink / Werner Beckmann / Matthias Keller: ... and today there is fish! 1903-2003 . 100 years of the fish industry and fish wholesaling in spotlights, publisher: Hauschild Bremen, 2003, page 16ff.
  • The fish. Messages about fishing, fishing industry, fish trade and general fish processing . Second volume, LENGERICH Hanns Dr. (Ed.), Verlag Der Fisch , Lübeck, 1924, page 426 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Käthe Molsen: H. Köser fish export-fish import-fish dispatch 1862-1962 . In: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle (Hrsg.): Hamburger Wirtschaftschronik 1965 - Research and reports from the Hanseatic habitat . tape 2 , no. 4 . Hamburg, S. 335 .
  2. ↑ wikitree Claus Köser (1807 - 1855)
  3. ↑ Käthe Molsen: H. Köser fish export-fish import-fish dispatch 1862-1962 . In: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle (Hrsg.): Hamburger Wirtschaftschronik 1965 - Research and reports from the Hanseatic habitat . tape 2 , no. 4 . Hamburg, S. 330 .
  4. ↑ Kelly's directory of Lincolnshire: with the port of Hull and neighborhood; with map of the county, London, Kelly, 1885, 161
  5. ↑ Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates, Peter McClure (Eds.): The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland . S. 1503 .
  6. ↑ Käthe Molsen: H. Köser fish export-fish import-fish dispatch 1862-1962 . In: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle (Hrsg.): Hamburger Wirtschaftschronik 1965 - Research and reports from the Hanseatic habitat . tape 2 , no. 4 . Hamburg, S. 331 .
  7. ↑ Käthe Molsen: H. Köser fish export-fish import-fish dispatch 1862-1962 . In: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle (Hrsg.): Hamburger Wirtschaftschronik 1965 - Research and reports from the Hanseatic habitat . tape 2 , no. 4 . Hamburg, S. 331 .
  8. ^ Nikolai Antoniadis: Flounder from Altona . Ed .: Fischmarkt Hamburg-Altona GmbH. 2009th edition. EBBE & FLUT Edition in cooperation with Junius Verlag GmbH, Hamburg, p. 26 .
  9. ↑ Ingo Heidbrink / Werner Beckmann / Matthias Keller: ... and today there is fish! 100 years of the fish industry and fish wholesaling in the spotlights 1903–2003 . Ed .: Federal Association of the German Fish Industry and Fish Wholesalers. 2003th edition. Hauschild, Bremen September 16, 2003, p. 19 .
  10. ↑ Fischereidirektion Hamburg-Altona: From fishing and fish markets in Hamburg and Altona - history of the fish markets in Hamburg and Altona 1887 to 1937 . Ed .: United Fish Markets Altona and Hamburg GmbH. 1937th edition. Altona, S. 188 .
  11. ↑ Lübbert, Hans + Wiese, Emil: Hamburg Fisheries in Ten Centuries - From Whalers to Fish Steamer . 1949th edition. Society of Friends of the Fatherland School and Education System, Hamburg January 1, 1949, p. 97/98 .
  12. ↑ Käthe Molsen: H. Köser fish export-fish import-fish dispatch 1862-1962 . In: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle (Hrsg.): Hamburger Wirtschaftschronik 1965 - Research and reports from the Hanseatic habitat . tape 2 , no. 4 . Hamburg, S. 335 .
  13. ↑ wikitree Ratje Köser (1841 - 1911)
  14. ^ Fisherman's Nautical Almanack and Tide Tables: A Directory of British & Foreign Fishing Vessels, Steamers . ETW Dennis and Sons, 1911, p. 279/282/294 .
  15. ↑ Käthe Molsen: H. Köser fish export-fish import-fish dispatch 1862-1962 . In: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle (Hrsg.): Hamburger Wirtschaftschronik 1965 - Research and reports from the Hanseatic habitat . tape 2 , no. 4 . Hamburg, S. 337 .
  16. ^ Maria Möhring: 1904–1979 . Ed .: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle eV ,. tape 41 . Hanseatischer Merkur, 1979, p. 17 .
  17. ↑ Käthe Molsen: H. Köser fish export-fish import-fish dispatch 1862-1962 . In: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle (Hrsg.): Hamburger Wirtschaftschronik 1965 - Research and reports from the Hanseatic habitat . tape 2 , no. 4 . Hamburg, S. 346 .
  18. ↑ Käthe Molsen: H. Köser fish export-fish import-fish dispatch 1862-1962 . In: Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle (Hrsg.): Hamburger Wirtschaftschronik 1965 - Research and reports from the Hanseatic habitat . tape 2 , no. 4 . Hamburg, S. 333 .
personal data
SURNAME Köser, Johann Hinrich
SHORT DESCRIPTION German-English entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1835
PLACE OF BIRTH Twielenfleth
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 1921
Place of death Hamburg