Gysbert Behagen (8 March 1725 – 17 December 1783) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

- Danish merchant, ship owner and director of Danish Asia Company. His home at

Strandgade Strandgade () is one of the principal streets in the Christianshavn district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs along the full length of the neighbourhood, following the waterfront of the Inner Harbour, Copenhagen, Inner Harbour, from Christian's Ch ...

26 in the

Christianshavn Christianshavn () is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of the city centre by the Inner Harbour, ...

neighbourhood of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

is known as Behagen's House (Danish: Behagens Gård) after him.

Biography

Behagen was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, the son of wine merchant Anthony Behagen (1687-1727) and Petronelle Elisabeth Mestecker (1703-1778). His father died when he was two years old. His mother later moved to

where she married the wealthy merchant

Joost van Hemert Joost van Hemert (22 June 1696 – 15 June 1775) was a Danish merchant, financier and shipowner. His trading house, Joost van H. & Sønner, founded circa 1740, was later continued by his son Peter van Hemert. Early life Joost van Hemert was born ...

in 1732. Behagen joined his step father's company. He married Elisabeth Gertrud Wasserfall on 9 April 1755 in the Reformed Church in Copenhagen.

Career

Behagen became an agent and a wholesaler (''grosserer'') in 1760 and was also active in

Kurantbanken The Kurantbanken (also known as the københavnske Assignationsbanken, Vekselbanken or Laanebankbanken) was a Danish-Norwegian private limited company set up in Copenhagen in 1736, when it received its royal ''oktroj'' or charter. This charter gave ...

where he held several trusted posts. In 1764, he obtained a royal licence to establish a sugar refinery at his house in

. In 1769, he became a member of the board of directors of the Danish Asia Company. When the octroi was up for renewal in 1772, many stakeholders expressed their dissatisfaction with the management and a new board was elected.

Later life

In 1776, he became ''etatsråd'' and in 1782 he was ennobled with a right to use a coat of arms dating from his ancestors. He died on 17 December 1783 and is buried in the graveyard of the

Reformed Church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

in Copenhagen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behagen, Gysbert 1725 births 1783 deaths 18th-century Danish businesspeople 18th-century merchants Directors of the Danish Asiatic Company Emigrants from the Holy Roman Empire to Denmark–Norway Merchants from Denmark–Norway Danish businesspeople in shipping Danish sugar industry businesspeople Danish merchants Businesspeople from Copenhagen Danish Calvinist and Reformed Christians