Reinhold Rücker Angerstein (October 25, 1718, at Vikmanshyttan – January 5, 1760, in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

. Angerstein was a member of an old family of Swedish Iron Masters, of

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 ...

descent. He passed his matriculation in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

1727 and then worked as an auditor at the

Swedish Board of Mines The Swedish Board of Mines () was a Swedish government agency existing between 1637 and 1857 with the task of overseeing the mining industry and metal processing in Sweden. The Board was an expression of the ''bergregal'' principle, the royal owne ...

(Bergskollegium) between 18 and 24 years of age. At the age of 31 he started a series of long journeys abroad, financed by the Swedish Association of Iron Masters (Jernkontoret). From these trips he wrote extensive and illustrated travel accounts back to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He primarily described technical and economic observations from mining and from Iron and Steel Works. Between 1749 and 1757 he was constantly travelling, with only few short spells in

: in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. After returning to Sweden he got a position at Bergskollegium as Director of Steelworks (Direktör för rikets gröfre svartsmide). There exist illustrations also from his inspection tours of Swedish Iron Works. Towards the end of his life he purchased the Vira Iron Works in

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The name literally ...

in 1757, northeast of Stockholm, renowned for forging of weapons for the army. He had far-reaching plans to extend this plant, but had no time to implement them before his death in 1760. Between 1753 and 1755 he visited

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, where he was considered an industrial spy. His visit to

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

was brief, less than a day, and it has been suggested that he was driven out of the town for showing too much interest in the crucible process newly invented by

Benjamin Huntsman Benjamin Huntsman (4 June 170420 June 1776) was an England, English inventor and manufacturer of cast or crucible steel. Biography Huntsman was born the fourth child of William and Mary (née Nainby) Huntsman, a Quaker farming couple, in Epwo ...

.materialising Sheffield
/ref>

To read more

*''R R Angerstein's Illustrated Travel Diary 1753-1755: industry in England and Wales from a Swedish perspective'', translated by Torsten & Peter Berg, The Science Museum, London 2001, *Göran Rydén & A. Florén: ''A Journey to the Market Society. A Swedish Pre-Industrial Spy in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century'', in R. Björk & K. Molin, eds.: ''Societies made up of history'', Rolf Torstendahls festskrift, Uppsala 1999 *Reinhold R. Angerstein: ''Reinhold R. Angersteins resor genom Ungern och Österrike 1750'', Jernkontorets bergshistoriska utskott, Stockholm 1992 *Leos Müller: ''Consuls, Corsairs, and Commerce. The Swedish Consular Service and Long-distance Shipping, 1720-1815'', Forum Naval No 10, 2004,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angerstein, Reinhold 18th-century Swedish illustrators Swedish businesspeople Swedish civil servants Swedish metallurgists 1718 births 1760 deaths People from Hedemora Municipality Artists from Dalarna County