Johan Anders Jägerhorn
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Johan (Jan) Anders Jägerhorn af Spurila (1752-1825) was a Finnish
nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...
born on 8 April 1757 in Helsinki county, at that time a part of
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. He was the eldest son of lieutenant colonel Fredrik Anders Jägerhorn and Ulrika Sofia Brunow. Colonel Fredrik Adolf Jägerhorn, vice commander of the Sveaborg fortress in 1808 was Johan Anders' brother.


Life

The
Jägerhorn af Spurila The Jägerhorn af Spurila family is a nobility, noble family, registered with number 114 in the Swedish House of Nobility and number 5 in the Finnish House of Nobility. Members of this family live in Finland, Sweden, France and the United States. ...
noble family tree can be documented to 15th century Finland with legends - inspired by the
Song of Roland The ''Song of Roland'' () is an 11th-century based on the deeds of the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne. It is the oldest surviving major work of French lite ...
- going back to the 12th century when Swedish crusader king
Eric the Saint Saint Erik ( 1125 - 18 May 1160), also called Eric IX or Erik Jedvardsson was King of Sweden from 1156 until his death in 1160. The ''Roman Martyrology'' of the Catholic Church names him as a saint memorialized on 18 May. He was the founder of ...
of Sweden came to Finland and made an early ancestor of the family
squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. Terminology ''Squire'' ...
of the king. Johan Anders Jägerhorn was a military officer with the rank of major in the Swedish army and lieutenant colonel in the Russian army 1789. As a participant in an officers’ plot against the Swedish king in Finland 1788, Jägerhorn advocated sovereignty for Finland. Condemned to death by the Swedes on the ground of treason, he was exiled to Germany. In Hamburg he befriended
Lord Edward FitzGerald Lord Edward FitzGerald (15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798) was an Irish aristocrat and revolutionary proponent of Irish independence from Britain. He abandoned his prospects as a distinguished veteran of British service in the American War of Ind ...
and acted as an intermediary between the Irish and the French before the rebellion of 1798. After two years’ imprisonment (1799–1801) in the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
, he returned to Finland and was instrumental in shaping the constitution of newly autonomous Finland. After having been part of the Swedish kingdom for more than 600 years, Finland became an autonomous Russian
Grand Duchy A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Prior to the early 1800s, the only Grand duchy in Europe was located in what is now Italy: Tuscany ( ...
in 1809. Jägerhorn was thus one of the historical originators of
Finnish independence Finland declared its independence on 6 December 1917. The formal Declaration of Independence was only part of the long process leading to the independence of Finland. History Proclamation of Empress Elizabeth (1742) The subject of an independe ...
. Finland declared independence on 6 December 1917. Johan Anders Jägerhorn was the founder and leader of a secret order called
Walhalla-orden Walhalla-orden was a secret society founded in the early part of 1783 in the Sveaborg (today, in Finnish: Suomenlinna) fortress outside Helsinki, Finland by Johan Anders Jägerhorn along with Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm. It is thought to have been in ...
with its seat in the Suomenlinna fortress. He was married to Ulrika Sofia Blomcreutz of
Swedish nobility The Swedish nobility (, or , ) has historically been a legally or socially privileged Social class, class in Sweden, and part of the so-called ''frälse'' (a derivation from Old Swedish meaning ''free neck''). The archaic term for nobility, ''fr ...
in 1783. Jägerhorn died in Porvoo, Finland on 6 March 1825. His only two daughters had died at early age in tragic accidents.


Legacy

In 1981, Minister
Desmond O'Malley Desmond Joseph O'Malley (2 February 1939 – 21 July 2021) was an Irish politician who served as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1977 to 1981 and 1989 to 1992, Progressive Democrats, Leader ...
of Ireland unveiled a commemorative plaque adorning Jägerhorn's house in
Porvoo Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the Porvoo sub-region, sub-re ...
, Finland and stated: "If this man has spent 2 years of prison for the independence of Ireland, he is indeed worthy of this plaque."


Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jagerhorn, Johan Anders 1757 births 1825 deaths People from Vantaa 18th-century Finnish nobility Swedish military personnel Russian military personnel 19th-century Finnish nobility Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish exiles Finnish expatriates in Germany