Hans Peter Prior (25 February 1866 - 27 September 1936) was a Danish industrialist who founded NKT A/S.
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Early life and education edit
Prior was born on 25 February 1866 in Copenhagen, the son of shipbuilding engineer Johannes Andreas Prior (1840–1905) and Fernanda Frederikke Louise Jacobine Ekman (1843–93). His paternal grandfather was DFDS-founder Hans Peter Prior (1813–1875). The family lived in the Prior House on Bredgade in Copenhagen. He had four younger brothers and two younger sisters. His brothers were bank manager Ferdinand Prior, business executive Viggo Prior, lawyer Otto Prior and architect Alexis Prior.[1]
Prior attended Borgerdyd School and later received a technical education in C. P. Jürgensens Mekaniske Etablissement which was later supplemented with a couple of years of theoretical studies. In 1888, he traveled to the US where he worked for some time at the Edison Machine Works.[2]
Career edit
Upon his return to Copenhagen in 1891, Prior started a small-scale production of cables and electrical wires in a basement at Store Kannikestræde 14. In 1893, he inaugurated a new factory at Ryesgade 105. The name of the firm was changed to Nordisk Kabelfabrik. On 21 February 1898, it was merged with another enterprise as Aktieselskabet Nordiske Kabel- og Traadfabriker with Prior as the merger's first managing director.[3]
In 1908–12, Prior served as president of the Danish Electro-Technical Association (Elektroteknisk Forening). In 1910, he became president of Industriforeningen. In the same year, when the Danish Industry Council (Industrirådet) was established, Prior was appointed as its first president. For health reasons, he gave up the chairmanship as early as 1911, and he was instead replaced by Alexander Foss. During the First World War, in 1914–18, Prior was instrumental in promoting the council's trade policy tasks. He was a member of the England committee and signed the first of the council's agreements with the belligerent powers as an envoy for the Industrial Council in London in 1915. Likewise, during the world war, he held a number of chairmanships in the special committees that were set up to distribute the imported goods among the individual industrial enterprises, and after the establishment of the German submarine blockade, he traveled with director Christian Cold to America to obtain an arrangement with the United Nations.[2]
In January 1920, when decease forced Foss to retire, Prior returned to the post as president of the Industry Council. In April 1920, he was appointed as Minister of Trade in the interin Cabinet of M. P. Friis.[2]
The collapse of Landmandsbanken in 1922 and the series of investigations that arose as a result of this, resulted in Prior being sentenced to three months in prison.[2]
While he was developing Nordiske Kabel- og Traadfabriker, Prior had met with a lot of understanding and support from the Landmandsbanken and Isak Gluckstadt. Over the years, he had become more and more closely connected to the bank and joined not only its bank council, but also the board of a number of companies within the bank's interest spere, icnluding Det Transatlantiske Kompagni, Nordiske Metalvarefabrikker, Forenede Automobilfabrikker and Nielsen & Winther. In 1918, together with Emil Glückstadt and Ove Ringberg, he had formed a consortium to buy shares in Nordisk Kabel- og Traad. The purpose was to protect the company against a group of speculators, but when the consortium made large losses, these were transferred to the company and Landmandsbanken in various ways. Prior was sentenced to 120 days in prison for complicity in these transactions by the Supreme Court (the high court had merely given him a fine of DKK 800 for violating the Danish Companies Act). As a result of the Landmandsbank case, Prior resigned in 1923 as managing director of Nordisk Kabel- og Traad, just as he also had to give up his post as chairman of the Industrial Council.[2]
After serving his sentence, in 1925 Prior established the Danish Galosche- and Gummifabrik (now Codan Rubber) ub Køge, which he managed until 1931. Until his death, he was a member of the board of the Joint Representation of Danish Industry and Crafts as well as of the for Technological Institute and Børnehjemmet Fanmark. He also remained a member of the Danish electrotechnical committee.[2]
Personal life edit
On 22 September 1893 in Kristiania, Prior married to Margarethe Cathrine Bergh (1866–1927). She was a daughter of Supreme Court attorney Johannes Bergh (1837–1906) and Anna Johanne (Hanne) Borchgrevink (1838–1906). After the death of his first wife, on 27 Kanuary 1929 in Vrejlev, he was married to Inger Adelhaid Kaas (1894–1971). She had previously been married to Hans Kaj Niels Rand (1891–1944). She was the daughter of landowner and hotel owner Niels Adolph Christoph K. (1868–1936) and Sarah Henriette adopt. Heiberg (1853-).[2]
Orior died in Gellerup on 27 September 1936. He is buried at Copenhagen's Western Cemetery.[2]
Awards edit
In 1916, Prior was created a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog. In 1920, he was awarded the Cross of Gonour.[2]
References edit
- ^ "F. Prior". Dansk Biografisk Leksikon (in Danish). Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "H.P. Prior". Dansk Biografisk Leksikon (in Danish). Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ^ "Noriske Kabel-og Traadfabriker". Kraks Forlag (in Danish). Retrieved 16 June 2022.
External links edit
- Hans Peter Prior at geni.com