Christina ''Charlotta'' Richardy (1751-1831), was a Swedish industrialist.

Life

She was born to the

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Albrecht Friedrich Richardson,

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Halmstad Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational city at the mouth of the Nissan river, in the province of Halland on the Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat of Halmstad Municipality and the capital of Halland County. The ...

. Richardy never married and remained a ''

mamsell (from the French ) was a historical Swedish honorific used for unmarried women from about the mid 18th-century until 1866. The title was primarily used for women in the burgher and the clergy classes. The word was replaced after the middle of th ...

''. While unmarried women, in accordance with the

Civil Code of 1734 The Civil Code of 1734 ( Swedish: ''1734 års lag''), was passed by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates in 1734, and put in effect after it had been ratified by Frederick I of Sweden 23 January 1736. It became the foundation of the later civil code i ...

, were legal minors under the guardianship of their closest male relative for life, they had the right to petition for legal majority to the monarch, which was a common procedure for unmarried businesswomen. Richardy had herself declared of legal majority by a petition to

Gustav III of Sweden Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

in 1786 and, being now free to manage her own affairs, engaged in business.

Fish trade

Halmstad was at the time a major

Staple right The staple right, also translated stacking right or storage right, both from the Dutch ''stapelrecht'', was a medieval right accorded to certain ports, the staple ports. It required merchant barges or ships to unload their goods at the port and to ...

city. Richardy engaged in the fish trade and had fresh

Salmonidae Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...

bought, smoked and sold, a lucrative trade which put her in conflict with the Halmstad city

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometim ...

. Because of her verbal defense in court, the guild were unable to have her business closed down. Instead, she applied to be a member of the guild in accordance with the law of

1720 års skråordning 1720 års skråordning ('Guild Regulation of 1720') was a law reform introduced in Sweden in 1720. It replaced the '' 1669 års allmänna skråordning'' ('General Guild Regulation of 1669') and, with additional modifications, regulated the guild sys ...

. After the guild refused to admit her as a member, she protested by petition to the monarch. The King refused to meddle in the affair, but Richardy eventually won the conflict and managed to win membership in the Halmstad city guild. As she often traveled alone around the Halland country side in business, she carried a

pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, a ...

with her for self-protection, which was well known.

Textile industry

In 1800, Charlotta Richardy became the first female member of the

Royal Patriotic Society The Royal Patriotic Society ( sv, Kungliga Patriotiska Sällskapet) is a Sweden, Swedish royal family, royal society founded in 1772 in Stockholm, Sweden, by royal charter of King Gustav III of Sweden, with the aim of improving Sweden's economy, pa ...

, where she participated actively in the effort of the society to promote agriculture and industry. She was elected in part because of her effort as a provider of boots and stockings to the army. Richardy took over the old contract of the Vallen Castle manufacture to provide

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

en stockings and boots for the

Swedish Army The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav ...

, which had belonged to the family of

Birgitta Durell Brechtgien "Birgitta" Durell, née ''von Crakow'' or ''von Cracauw'' (1619 in Hoorn, the Netherlands – 1683 in Sweden) was a Swedish (originally Dutch) industrialist. She was the daughter of Carel van Cracauw, the Dutch envoy to Copenhagen, a ...

for over a century prior. From 1805 until 1822, she managed her own factory on her farm Tolarp in Snöstorp just outside the city of Halmstad. To fulfill her contract, she was given permission to import and sell wool from Copenhagen. Outside of those employed in her factory, she distributed wool for the manufacture of socks at home among the peasantry of the area, and she sidestepped the shoemaker guild in Halmstad by engaging the shoemakers in the surrounding country side to make her boots. She also bought the cloth produced by at home by the surrounding peasantry and sold to the army. Richardy and her factory enjoyed great success as the provider of foot wear for the army during the wars of the time, such as the

Finnish war The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a re ...

. In 1810, she was granted funds from the manufacture state fund to expand in recognition of her great contribution to the employment of the workforce in the region. She is regarded a pioneer in the region, were following textile factory owners continued to hire peasantry to work from home after her example. Carl Christoffer Gjörwell Sr. described her as a: :"... manly lady of imposing height and strong powers and the attitude of a man. She is a woman of about fifty, lives in Halmstad, manage trade and commerce and often travels up o the capitalto control her business with His Majesty and the Crown. I have never seen her equal, will not forget our first conversation, the brave look, the straight arm, the famed Pistol..."Ingegärd Larsén, Christina Charlotta Richardy – en föregångskvinna för 200 år sedan. GHÅ 1990. S-82-89.

References

Sources

* Du Rietz, Anita, Kvinnors entreprenörskap: under 400 år, 1. uppl., Dialogos, Stockholm, 2013 * Halmstads historia s. 236f, s 372ff. * Ingegärd Larsén, Christina Charlotta Richardy – en föregångskvinna för 200 år sedan. GHÅ 1990. S-82-89. * Hedberg, Magnus & Cedermark Hedberg, Gunilla, Idoga kvinnor, trofasta pigor: hedersbelöningar av silver och guld, Science and Art AB, Lidingö, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardy, Christina Charlotta 1751 births 1831 deaths 18th-century Swedish businesswomen 19th-century Swedish businesswomen Gustavian era people Swedish industrialists Swedish women business executives People of the Industrial Revolution

Life

Fish trade

Textile industry

See also

References

Sources