Søren Frich (20 September 1827 – 7 May 1901) was a Danish

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, factory owner and city Councillor who built the

Frichs Frichs is a Danish company based in Horsens, founded in 1854 in Aarhus. Frichs today produce ship engines but started out in the 19th century producing a long range of farm and industry equipment, ships, church bells, cranes and later through the ...

company, with headquarters and main production in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwes ...

. He became one of the largest employers in Aarhus and the Frichs factory became one of the only locomotive producers in Denmark. Frich was elected to the

Aarhus city council Aarhus Municipality ( da, Aarhus Kommune), known as Århus Municipality ( da, Århus Kommune) until 2011, is a municipality in Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area ...

three times. Søren Frich was born in Nim Parish in the manor Bolund west of

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 61,074 (1 January 2022) and the municipality's population is 94,443 (), making it the 8th largest city in D ...

in 1827. He was the son of Johan Peter Frich and Johanne Marie Harpøth. His father was a lawyer and later a member of

Landstinget Landstinget was the upper house of the Rigsdag (the parliament of Denmark), from 1849 until 1953, when the bicameral system was abolished in favour of unicameralism. Landstinget had powers equal to the Folketing, which made the two houses of parl ...

. From 1842-1845, Frich attended the technical school in Aarhus and then 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 ...

where he attended

Polyteknisk Læreanstalt The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fir ...

(Polytechnic Academy). Between 1848 and 1850, he served with the Danish military during the

First Schleswig War The First Schleswig War (german: Schleswig-Holsteinischer Krieg) was a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig-Holstein Question, contesting the issue of who should control the Duchies of Schleswig, ...

. He was wounded in the

Battle of Isted The Battle of Isted ( da, Slaget på Isted Hede; german: Die Schlacht bei Idstedt) took place on 25 July 1850 near the village of Idstedt (Danish: ''Isted''), in what is today Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The battle was part of the First Schles ...

and lost a lung to a gunshot wound. After convalescing, he moved to

Frederiksværk Frederiksværk is a town with a population of 12,718 (1 January 2022) in Halsnæs Municipality on Zealand in Region Hovedstaden in Denmark. History A French cannon founder, Peyrembert, received permission to build a cannon factory here. Havi ...

to study iron casting. Two years later, in 1852, he took a study trip to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. On this trip, he noticed how far ahead other countries were in terms of industrial production, compared to Denmark. In summer of 1853, Frich returned home to Aarhus and the following year he established a new factory on the corner of ''Søndergade'' and ''Sønder Allé''. He bought the land with funds borrowed from his father and got permission to build his

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals ...

in less than a month. He proceeded to use the knowledge he had obtained during his travels and quickly built a reputation for skill and reliability. The factory initially produced tools and implements for agriculture and construction. During the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, production was diversified to

wind mill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain ( gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in s ...

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often k ...

s and

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

s. Especially his machines for the oil and soap industries won acclaim and at the 1878 World's Fair in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

Frich won a bronze medal for these products. In 1885, Frich resigned and sold the factory, then the largest industrial employer in the city. Søren Frich was also politically active but with varying success. In 1870, he was elected to the city council for

Højre Højre (, ''Right'') was the name of two Danish political parties of Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The c ...

. He started his tenure with a proposal to expand the harbor north of the city and to include a

ship yard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

. The proposal did not get the necessary votes and in response, Søren Frich resigned from the city council. Public pressure brought him back, but in 1872 he resigned again. In 1882, he was elected for a third and last time, this time lasting a month. Although his political career did not bring great results, he continued to make his voice heard in the local press, frequently arguing for larger

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as ...

facilities. His well-researched letters and publications would eventually form the basis for future harbor expansions. Søren Frich died on 7 May 1901 and was buried on

Åbyhøj Church Åbyhøj Church ( da, Skt. Åbyhøj Kirke) is a church in Aarhus, Denmark. The church is situated in the western Åbyhøj neighbourhood on Silkeborgvej. Åbyhøj Church is a parish church within the Church of Denmark, the Danish state church, u ...

cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frich, Søren 1827 births 1901 deaths People from Horsens Municipality Danish industrialists Local politicians in Denmark