Benjamin Wegner Nørregaard (3 October 1861 – 24 April 1935) was a Norwegian military officer,

railway engineer Railway engineering is a multi-faceted engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction and operation of all types of rail transport systems. It encompasses a wide range of engineering disciplines, including civil engineering, comput ...

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme s ...

, journalist, diplomat and internationally renowned war correspondent. He spent several years in China and served as Minister of Labour in the Tianjin Provisional Government during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, b ...

. He later worked as a war correspondent for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' and for Scandinavian newspapers, and covered several conflicts in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. He is especially known for his books ''The Great Siege'', on the

siege of Port Arthur The siege of Port Arthur ( ja, 旅順攻囲戦, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; russian: link=no, Оборона Порт-Артура, ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the List of battles of the Russo-Japanese War, longes ...

during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, and ''War'', on the

Career

Nørregaard graduated as an officer in 1881 and became a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20 ...

in the

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

in 1894. Described as an

, he left the country in 1895 without permission of his military superiors, effectively ending his military career, and in the following years, he lived in

during a period marked by upheavals and war. He worked as a railway engineer for the

Imperial Chinese Railways Rail transport is an important mode of long-distance transportation in China. As of 2021, the country had more than of railways, the second longest network in the world. By the end of 2021, China had more than of high-speed rail (HSR), the ...

from 1896 to 1900. During the

in 1900, he was employed by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

as head of the Ministry of Labour in the Tianjin Provisional Government, which governed the major city

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

and surrounding areas, a position he held from 1900 to 1902. He was also the architect of the new, monumental government building in Tianjin. He rose to journalistic prominence as a war correspondent of the ''

'' during the

(1904–05) and during the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

(1912–13). He witnessed the

Siege of Port Arthur The siege of Port Arthur ( ja, 旅順攻囲戦, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; russian: link=no, Оборона Порт-Артура, ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the List of battles of the Russo-Japanese War, longes ...

and published the book ''The Great Siege: The Investment and Fall of Port Arthur'' (

Methuen Publishing Methuen Publishing Ltd is an English publishing house. It was founded in 1889 by Sir Algernon Methuen (1856–1924) and began publishing in London in 1892. Initially Methuen mainly published non-fiction academic works, eventually diversifying to ...

, 1906) and the book ''War'' (1908) on the Boxer Rebellion, which were "written with great journalistic talent."Omang, Reidar (1959), ''Norsk utenrikstjeneste II: Stormfulle tider 1913–28''. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, p. 52. From 1906 to 1908, he lived in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

as a foreign correspondent of the Norwegian newspaper ''

Morgenbladet ''Morgenbladet'' is a Norwegian weekly, newspaper, covering politics, culture and science. History ''Morgenbladet'' was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg. The paper is the country's first daily newspaper; however, Adresseav ...

'' and the Danish newspaper '' Vort Land'', and gave a vivid portrayal of the revolutionary turmoil in Russia. In 1909, he relocated to Berlin as a correspondent for ''Morgenbladet''. In the same year, he was appointed a "secret press envoy" to Berlin and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

for the

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian (Bokmål): ''Det kongelige utenriksdepartement''; Norwegian (Nynorsk): ''Det kongelege utanriksdepartement'') is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on Ju ...

, a position he held until 1911. From 1911, he was permanently employed by ''

''. He also wrote for the Swedish newspaper ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ' ...

''. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, he was among the leading commentators on the ongoing war in the neutral countries.''

Hvem er hvem? ''Hvem er hvem?'' ( en, Who is Who?) was a Norwegian book series, presenting facts about notable persons from Norway. The first edition was issued in 1912, and the 14th edition came in 1994. In the 2008 edition, edited by Knut Olav Åmås, one thou ...

'' 1912 In addition to writing on war and foreign policy, he was a

food writer Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians. Definition Food writers regard food as a substance and a cultural phenomenon. John T. Edge, an American food ...

, and wrote humorous short stories. He was a son of the Norwegian colonel and aide-de-camp to king Charles Hans Jacob Nørregaard and Sophie Wegner. His mother was a daughter of the industrialist

Benjamin Wegner Jacob Benjamin Wegner (21 February 1795 – 9 June 1864) was a Norwegian business magnate, estate owner and timber merchant. Born in Königsberg, East Prussia, he moved to London in 1819 and to Berlin in 1820, where he established an indepe ...

and Henriette Seyler, of the Hamburg

Berenberg-Gossler-Seyler banking dynasty The Berenberg family ( Dutch for "bear mountain") was a Flemish-origined Hanseatic family of merchants, bankers and senators in Hamburg, with branches in London, Livorno and other European cities. The family was descended from the brothers Ha ...

. He was a brother of the noted lawyer

Harald Nørregaard Harald Nørregaard (30 May 1864 in Vestre Aker – 5 April 1938) was a Norwegian supreme court advocate (''høyesterettsadvokat''), i.e. a lawyer with the right to appear before the Supreme Court of Norway. He founded the law firm now known as ...

and of wine merchant and consul in

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

Ludvig Paul Rudolf Nørregaard. He married Wilhelmine Sissenère in 1898. She was formerly married to the Norwegian cabinet minister and Director-General of the

Norwegian State Railways Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train services and many bus services in Norway. The company is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Its sub-brands include Vy Buss coach se ...

Hans Nysom. He had no children. He is mentioned as a military and foreign policy commentator in ''

'' during the

in the novel '' Lillelord'' by

Johan Borgen Johan Collett Müller Borgen (28 April 1902 – 16 October 1979) was a Norwegian writer, journalist and critic. His best-known work is the novel ''Lillelord'' for which he was awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 1955. He was ...

Honours

Tianjin Provisional Government Medal The Tianjin Provisional Government (also spelled Tientsin Provisional Government, Provisional Government of Tianjin, Provisional Government of Tientsin) (french: Gouvernement provisoire du district de Tientsin, Chinese ''T’ienchin Tutung Yamen'' ...

in Gold (one of only 12 issued to members of the Tianjin Provisional Government)

Works

*Benjamin Wegner Nørregaard, ''Port Arthurs beleiring'',

Aschehoug H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), commonly known as Aschehoug,() is one of the largest independent publishing companies in Norway, founded in 1872. Headquartered in Oslo, the publishing house has 480 employees. The Aschehoug group also comprises ot ...

, Kristiania, 1905, 256 pages, illustrated *Benjamin Wegner Nørregaard, ''The Great Siege: The Investment and Fall of Port Arthur'',

, 1906, 308 pages *Benjamin Wegner Nørregaard, ''Krig: Skildringer og Oplevelser'', Aschehoug, Kristiania, 1908, 168 pages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norregaard, Benjamin Wegner 1861 births 1935 deaths Norwegian people of German descent Norwegian expatriates in China Norwegian expatriates in Russia Norwegian war correspondents War correspondents of the Russo-Japanese War Daily Mail journalists Morgenbladet people Dagens Nyheter journalists Norwegian food writers People of the Boxer Rebellion Politicians from Tianjin Norwegian Army personnel Norwegian diplomats