Anna Christina Cronquist, née ''Lundgren'' (1807–1893), was a Swedish entrepreneur. She was the founder of the firm '' A.C. Cronquist & Son'', which was the start of the Cronquist Era within

manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

and

Major appliance A major appliance is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cooking, washing laundry, or food preservation. Such appliances are sometimes collectively known as white goods, as the products were trad ...

business in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

Life

Anna Christina Cronquist married in 1830 to Johan Cronquist (d. 1852), editor and publisher of the newspaper '' Malmö Nya Allehanda'' in Malmö. As the income from the paper was not sufficient to support a family, she gave lessons in

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

: skilled in the art, she published the possibly first instruction book in weaving in Swedish in 1845. Between 1849 and 1865, Cronquist managed a very successful textile shop, which became the biggest in Malmö and reputed in all Scania. She was likely the first married woman in Sweden to have started her own firm rather than to have inherited it, and she was also the first married woman to have started a firm in her own name: ''A.C. Cronquist & Son'', referred to herself and her son. In an age when a married woman was legally a minor under the guardianship of her spouse, this was not an uncomplicated issue; another difficulty was the fact that shops were formally the privilege of the guilds, despite the law of '' Handelsordningen'', which normally only allowed women members if they were widows. Because of these issues, Cronquist were often forced to use a male Strawperson in order to handle her business until she became a widow (and thereby no longer a minor) in 1852. Anna Christina Cronquist made her son Georg Cronquist her business partner in 1862 and retired in 1865, leaving part of the firm to her daughter-in-law and former employee Aqvilina Cronquist. The ''A.C. Cronquist & Son'' eventually developed into a major appliance firm.

References

Sources

* Schenlær, Margareta, Malmökvinnor, Malmö kulturhistoriska fören., Malmö, 2003
Idun, nr 12, 1893
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronquist, Anna Christina 1807 births 1893 deaths 19th-century Swedish businesswomen 19th-century Swedish businesspeople Swedish weavers 19th-century Swedish women textile artists 19th-century Swedish textile artists Swedish women business executives