Betty Ehrenborg, married name Posse af Säby (22 July 1818 – 22 July 1880), was a
Swedish writer, psalm writer and
pedagogue
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
. She is regarded as the founder of the Swedish
Sunday school
A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West.
S ...
.
Life
Katarina Elisabeth (
nicknamed
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
Betty) Ehrenborg was the daughter of the noble
Parliamentary Ombudsman Parliamentary Ombudsman ( fi, Eduskunnan oikeusasiamies, sv, Riksdagens ombudsman, is, Umboðsmaður Alþingis, da, Folketingets Ombudsmand, no, Sivilombudet) is the name of the principal ombudsman institutions in Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Norw ...
Casper Ehrenborg and the writer
Anna Fredrica Carlqvist
Anna Fredrica Ehrenborg, née Carlqvist (16 March 1794, Karlstad – 20 May 1873, Linköping), was a Swedish writer. She was regarded as one of the most notable supporters of The New Church in contemporary Sweden.Anna Fredrika Ehrenborg, Dictio ...
. She was raised at the family estate Råbäck at
Kinnekulle
Kinnekulle is a flat-topped mountain in the county of Västergötland, Sweden, on the eastern shore of lake Vänern. Its highest point is above sea level. The mountain is long and wide at the top.
Geology
Despite its enormous size, Kinneku ...
. Her sister Maria Ulrika (Ulla) Ehrenborg was the wife of Bishop
Ebbe Gustaf Bring
Ebbe Gustaf Bring (4 July 1814 – 13 August 1884) was a Swedish bishop in the Church of Sweden and theologian.
Biography
Bring was born in Askersund, Örebro County in 1814, to city physician and assessor Sven Håkan Bring and Ulrika (Ulla) Sof ...
.
In 1842, she and her mother moved to Uppsala to be near her brother,
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
, who studied at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
The university rose to significance durin ...
. In Uppsala, she attended several of the university lectures, though she was merely a member of the civil audience and not a student, and she became a part of the Uppsala intellectual life of the 1840s.
She worked as a governess in 1846–1848. She got to know Swedish Baptist pioneer brothers
Gustaf Palmquist and
Per Palmqvist in 1851.
Ehrenborg traveled to England around that time, possibly with the brothers, and learned about the Sunday school programs there.
While in England she stayed with
Mathilda Foy
Mathilda (or ''Mathilde'') Foy (or ''Foj''), also known as ''Tante Esther'', (10 November 1813 – 1 November 1869), was a Swedish philanthropist and writer, known for her charitable work. She is known as a pioneer of the Sunday school, and as ...
, who introduced her to
Carl Olof Rosenius
Carl Olof Rosenius (February 3, 1816 – February 24, 1868) was a Swedish lay preacher, author and editor of the monthly '' Pietisten'' (The Pietist) from 1842 to 1868.''Twice-Born Hymns'' by J. Irving Erickson, (Chicago: Covenant Press, 1976 ...
' teachings.
In 1852–1853, she studied at the
British and Foreign school
The British and Foreign School Society (BFSS) offers charitable aid to educational projects in the UK and around the world by funding schools, other charities and educational bodies. It was significant in the history of education in England, suppo ...
in London. She remained in contact with the Palmqvist brothers and they encouraged her to publish "".
After returning to Sweden, she established a Sunday school in 1854 with 13 mostly
free-church and
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...
students.
She founded and managed a Sunday school on her brother's estate in 1855–1856. Her Sunday school moved to
Bethlehem Church in 1873.
In 1854, she co-founded the
Fruntimmersällskapet för fångars förbättring in Stockholm with Foy, writer
Fredrika Bremer
Fredrika Bremer (17 August 1801 – 31 December 1865) was a Finnish-born Swedish writer and feminist reformer. Her ''Sketches of Everyday Life'' were wildly popular in Britain and the United States during the 1840s and 1850s and she is r ...
, deaconess
Maria Cederschiöld
Hedvig ''Maria'' Reddita Cederschiöld (29 June 1856, Stockholm – 19 October 1935, Stockholm), was a Swedish journalist and women's rights activist. She was the chief editor of the foreign office at ''Aftonbladet'' in 1909–1921, and the first ...
, and
Emilia Elmblad
Emilia may refer to:
People
* Emilia (given name), list of people with this name
Places
* Emilia (region), a historical region of Italy. Reggio, Emilia
* Emilia-Romagna, an administrative region in Italy, including the historical regions of Emi ...
, founder of the Stockholm home for reformed prostitutes.
In 1863, she married Baron Johan August Posse.
She died in Södertälje in 1880.
Works
*"
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is a popular English lullaby. The lyrics are from an early-19th-century English poem written by Jane Taylor, "The Star". The poem, which is in couplet form, was first published in 1806 in ''Rhymes for the Nursery ...
" (Swedish-language lyrics, "Blinka lilla stjärna")
*"
Visan om solen, månen och planeterna" ("The song about the sun, moon and planets")
*"
Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus
"Ich hab mich ergeben" (, ), originally titled "Gelübde" ("Vow"), is a German patriotic song. The text was written in 1820 by Hans Ferdinand Maßmann. It was one of the unofficial national anthems of West Germany from 1949 to 1952, when the "De ...
" (Swedish-language lyrics: "
När juldagsmorgon glimmar")
References
Sources
K Elisabet (Betty) Posse, urn:sbl:7371, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (article by Oloph Bexell), retrieved 2015-09-04.
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehrenborg, Betty
1818 births
1880 deaths
19th-century Swedish women writers
19th-century Swedish writers
Swedish nobility
Swedish governesses