Jacob Letterstedt (born Lallerstedt; 15 December 1796 – 18 March 1862) was a Swedish businessman who settled in the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

(part of present-day South Africa). Lallerstedt was born in the parish of Vallerstad (present

Mjölby Municipality Mjölby Municipality () is a municipality in Östergötland County in southeast Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Mjölby, with some 13,000 inhabitants.

) in

Östergötland County Östergötland County () is a county or '' län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jönköping to the southwest, Örebro to the northwest, and Södermanland to the northeast. It also has a ...

. He arrived at

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in 1820, where he made his fortune in the

grain trade The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat, barley, maize, rice, and other food grains. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agri ...

. Later he founded the company that became

South African Breweries South African Breweries (officially The South African Breweries Limited, informally SAB) is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-Bu ...

. In 1839 he was appointed acting Consul of

Sweden-Norway Sweden and Norway or Sweden–Norway (; ), officially the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and known as the United Kingdoms, was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Sweden and Norway under a common monarch and common foreign poli ...

, in 1841 ordinary Consul and in 1857 Consul General. Letterstedt donated money to several prizes and to the Letterstedt Association, which promotes Nordic cooperation. In 1860, he was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

. The same year he returned to Europe and was living in Paris at the time of his death.

References

External links

Jacob Letterstedt
in ''Riksarkivet'' * Swedish businesspeople 1796 births 1862 deaths Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Swedish emigrants Cape Colony businesspeople People from Mjölby Municipality {{Sweden-business-bio-stub