Jeppe Prætorius (4 July 1745 – 6 April 1823) was a Danish merchant, slave trader and shipowner.

Biography

Prætorius was born in Skærbæk near Tønder in Jutland. He moved to Copenhagen where he became bookkeeper for the

Danish West India Company The Danish West India Company () or Danish West IndiaGuinea Company (') was a Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian chartered company that operated out of the colonies in the Danish West Indies. It is estimated that 120,000 Atlantic slave trade, enslav ...

in 1796 before establishing his own trading house. He mainly traded on the Danish colonies and was involved in the liquidisation of in 1787. His fleet had a total ship tonnage of more than 200 (just over 500 t) in 1797. The war with England in 1807 hit his business hard but he managed to keep it afloat. On 31 August 1807 HMS ''Niobe'' and captured his ship (''King of Ashanti''). Between 1797 and 1 January 1803, when the abolition of Danish participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade took effect, she had made three voyages carrying slaves from West Africa to the Danish West Indies. In 1802 Prætorius was elected to a leading post in Grosserer-Societetet, a wholesaler organization.

Property

He purchased the property at

Overgaden Neden Vandet 39 Overgaden Neden Vandet 39, is a historic property in the Christianshavn neighborhood of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of three properties along Christianshavn Canal that were built by anchor smith Hans Caspersen and are now all known as the Hans ...

in 1792.

Aftermath

Præstotius' two sons, Henrik Frederik Prætorius (30 March 1783 – 24 February 1862) Jacob Christian Prætorius (12 December 1784 – 23 March 1859), took over the company after his death. Henrik Frederik Prætorius was later elected to the board of representatives of

Bank of Denmark Danmarks Nationalbank (in Danish often simply ''Nationalbanken'') is the central bank of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is a non-eurozone member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Since its establishment in 1818, the objective of the Nat ...

and served as its bank manager under L. N. Hvidt. He was also a member of the meetings of the estates of the realm in Roskilde in 1838, 1842 and 1844.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Praetorius, Jeppe 18th-century Danish businesspeople 19th-century Danish businesspeople Danish merchants Danish slave traders 1745 births 1823 deaths People from Tønder Municipality Danish mass murderers