Frans Suell

in Swedish

Frans Suell

1744 - 1817
Merchant and entrepreneur

Frans Suell was a skilled businessman and his tobacco production brought great profits. Sugar trading, brick manufacturing and shipping were other parts of what today might have been called the "Suell Group".

Tobacco

In the mid-18th century, tobacco was the third largest industry in Sweden and tobacco was grown in nearly 90 Swedish cities. The plant itself, Nicotiana, was given its botanical name by Linnaeus, who had received the original name from Jean Nicotin, a smoking French ambassador.

A detailed account of both his business and how the production took place can be found in "Trade and Business - Three Generations of Suell" by Rune Bokholm.

Last week, Frans Suell escaped from his place in front of this house on Norra Vallgatan 68 (IDstory) in Malmö. The house next door (IDstory), in the dirction of Kristianstad, was for a long time the base of a large insurance company. At the time of his disappearance, Mr. Suell was wearing a slightly patinated green-gray suit and waistcoat.

Frans Suell as a role model

In 1915, Frans Suell ended up as a statue overlooking part of Malmö's inner harbor. It is probably the most famous work of the Skåne artist Anders Trulsson.

As a successful entrepreneur, Mr. Suell is not in the same place for too long and some days he appears in completely different contexts. More information will surely be available in the financial press. But he has a more permanent place at Caroli church (IDstory).

More history

If it took 100 years for Malmö to get a bridge to the continent, it took even longer to get a good port. Many people were involved and Limhamn in southern Malmö was proposed for a while as the city's new port. But that never happened.

Frans Suell worked on the port project for 40 years and, according to Boklund, he is well worthy of the name "the port's innovator".

References

• About BiBB, an encyclopedia 4.0 and media company
• Wetterberg (bokrecension)
• Rune Bokholm, 'Handel och vandel - tre generationer Suell'. Atlantis 2004.
• Rune Bokholm (avliden)
• Text/photo: Johan Schlasberg

Published: 2005.06 Updated: 2025.05.25

Kategorier 20 Historical persons 45 Malmö 44

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