Grosserer-Societetet

Grosserer-Societetet was founded by law in 1742. The society was initially headed by a chairman and two elders. Membership in Grosserer-Societetet required proof of maintaining an office, being trained as merchant, owning stakes in one or more ships, as well as keeping international correspondence.[2]

In 1797, 48 of Copenhagen's 70–80 wholesale merchants with citizenship as grosserer were members of Grosserer-Societetet.[3] As of 16 June 1809, the number of wholesale merchants in Copenhagen had increased to 173 (cf. list below).[3]

The room in the Sundorph House where the 1817 meeting took place.

Grosserer-Societetet was reorganized in 1817. Its affairs were from then on managed by a committee whose 13 members were elected at the Grosserer-Societetet's annual general meetings.[4]

In 1886, Wilhelmine Rerup became the first female member of Grosserer-Societetet.[5] Caroline Herding became the second female member of the organisation.[6]

As of 1969, it was no longer mandatory for businesspeople with the title of grosserer (wholesaler) to be members of Grosserer-Societetet. In 1987, it merged with Provinshandelskammeret (founded in 1901) as Det Danske Handelkammer (from 2000 Handelskammeret and from 2007 part of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Dansk Erhverv).

Grosserer-Societetet was initially based in bank cashier Lacoppidan's building at Købmagergade 35. As of 1804, its meetings were held in a room in the Sundorph House at Ved Stranden 10. In 1857, Frederick VII sold the building to Grosserer-Societetet for 70,000 rigsdaler.

Grosserer-Societet's committee represented the merchant class equally before the government and the Rigsdag (Parliament) and acted as its external representative wherever it was necessary to safeguard its special interests. Grosserer-Societetet was from its 1817 reorganisation based in the Sundorph House prior to purchasing the Stock Exchange building, which it purchased in 1857 and supervised,[7][8] managed daily stock exchange meetings, issued responses to questions whose answers required special commercial expertise, participated in the election of the members of the Maritime and Commercial Court, held brokerage examinations, participated in the official fixing of the exchange rate and supervised the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.[1] Attached to the committee were assessment and arbitration committees for the grain trade, the feed trade, the seed trade and the butter trade, as well as a committee for setting the price quotes for Danish butter.[9] Since 1888, the committee published a detailed annual trade report. Finally, the committee managed the Brockian Business Schools (today Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College; see Niels Brock);[10] a benefit fund, to which fines assessed for not attending the stock exchange on time (spærrepenge) are donated; as well as a large number of grants.

Peder Severin Krøyer depicted some of the society's members in his monumental group portrait painting From Copenhagen Stock Exchange. Carl Nielsen wrote a cantata, Kantate ved Grosserer-Societetets Hundredsaarsfest, to commemorate its 100th anniversary.[11]

This list is incomplete.

1742–1817

	Portrait	Chairman	Term	Notes
1		Burmester	1642
2		Gregorius Klaumann	1746 – ?
		Peter Borre	1762 – 1789
		Johann Ludvig Zinn	1790 – 1802
		Hans Rudolph Saabye	1802 –

1817–1987

	Portrait	Chairman	Term	Notes
		Erich Erichsen	1817 –?	[12]
		Friederich Tutein	1832 – 1842	[13]
		Lauritz Nicolai Hvidt	1842– 1850	[14]
		Andreas Nicolai Hansen	1850 – ?	[15]
		Moritz G. Melchior	1873 – 1884	[16]
1		Carl Frederik Tietgen	1885 –
		Harald Klitgaard	1912 – 1915
		C. C. Claussen	1915 – 1920
1		Ernst Meyer	1922 – 1933
		Rudolph Schmidt	1941 – 1948
		Victor B. Strand	1966 – 1969

The text of this article is mainly taken from "Grosserer-Societetet". Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon (2nd ed.). 1920.

• Lorenzen, Vilhelm, ed. (1942). Grosserer-Societetet 1742–1942 (in Danish). Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
• Lau Hansen, Jesper (1999-01-01). "Kampen om Fondsbørsen i det 19. og 20. århundrede". Historie: Jyske Samlinger (in Danish). Jysk selskab for historie: 59. ISSN 2246-7742. OCLC 1305413730.
• Lundgård Andersen, Hasse (2004). Grosserer-Societetet 1942–1987 og Handelskammeret 1987–2002 (in Danish). Copenhagen: HTS Interesseorganisationen. ISBN 9788799050505. OCLC 257789227.

• "Grosserersocietets-Komiteens Omdannelse. Andragende til Indenrigsministeriet fra Grosserer-Societetets Comitee. Om en Udvidelse af Comiteen som Repræsentation for Handel, Skibsfart og Industri m. m. Kbhvn. 1881". Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift (in Danish). 1 (18). 1881.
• Grossererstat 1925