Johan Leonhard Fix (28 December 1735 - 2 February 1807) was a German-Danish merchant who served as governor of Frederiknagor in

Danish India Danish India () was the name given to the colonies of Denmark (Denmark–Norway before 1814) in the Indian subcontinent, forming part of the Danish colonial empire. Denmark–Norway held colonial possessions in India for more than 200 years, ...

. He moved to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1787 where he served as director of

Danish Asiatic Company Danish Asiatic Company ( Danish: Asiatisk Kompagni) was a Danish trading company established in 1730 to revive Danish trade on the Danish East Indies and China following the closure of the Danish East India Company. It was granted a 40-year mono ...

from 1791 to 1805. He was the third largest contributor to the rebuilding of

Christiansborg Palace Christiansborg Palace ( da, Christiansborg Slot; ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament ('), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Sup ...

after the first Christiansborg Palace was destroyed in a fire in 1804.

Early life

Fix was born on 28 December 1735 in

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its station is a major railway junction and it has a port on the rive ...

near Frankfurt. His father was a weaver. The family belonged to the Dutch Reformed church.

Years in India

Fix travelled to

on foot where he was employed as bookkeeper by the

in 1867 and travelled to Trankebar and the Bengal on board the ship ''CRON PRINCEN AF DANEMARK''.

Hermann Abbestée Hermann Abbestée (29 July 1728 – 29 December 1794) was Danish governor of Tranquebar from 1762 to 1775 and the first royal governor of Danish India from 1779 to 1788. He served as one of the seven directors of the Danish Asiatic Company from ...

wrote an angry letter about Fix's conduct in 1770. In 1771 he married Anthonetta Maria Henckel in Frederiksnagore. She was the widow of Hermann Fredericks Henckel, a Danish Asiatic Company merchant and former Oberhoved of Frederiksnagore. In 1776, he was fired from Danish Asiatic Company. Then, in a partnership with John Fenwick, he ran a private trading house with a fleet of up to five ships. The partnership ended in court after disagreements. In 1783, he Partnered with Melchoir La Beaume, a Frenchman based in Tranquebar. The partnership ended in court after disagreements.

Late life in Denmark

In 1787, Fix returned to Copenhagen. In 1789 he purchased the property at Amaliegade 13. He also owned Folehavegård at

Hørsholm Hørsholm () is an urban area on the Øresund coast approximately north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers most of Hørsholm Municipality and straddles the borders neighbouring Fredensborg Municipality and Rudersdal Municipality. Hørsholm pro ...

from 1789 to 1791. In 1791 he was elected Director of Danish Asiatic Company. He kept the post until 1805. In 1794, he made a 2000

Danish rigsdaler The rigsdaler was the name of several currencies used in Denmark until 1875. The similarly named Reichsthaler, riksdaler and rijksdaalder were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands, respectively. These currencies were ...

donation for the rebuilding of

. In 1798, he was involved in a court case with Duntzfelt about a disagreement about taxation due to origin of a set of nanquin textiles. He died on 2 February 1807 and is buried at

Assistens Cemetery Assistens Cemetery ( da, Assistens Kirkegård) is the name of a number of cemeteries in Denmark. The common nominator is, as the first part of the name implies (Latin: ''assistens'' meaning assisting), an assisting cemetery for a town's churches. ...

References

External links

Johan Leonhard Fix
at geni.com
Video
about Johan Leonhard Fix {{DEFAULTSORT:Fix, Johan Leonhard 18th-century Danish businesspeople Danish Asiatic Company people Danish merchants German emigrants to Denmark Danish expatriates in India German expatriates in India People from Hesse-Nassau 1735 births 1807 deaths

Early life

Years in India

Late life in Denmark

Further reading

References

External links