14 Facts About Claes Grill

Claes Grill was a Swedish merchant, factory owner and ship-owner.

Claes Grill was director of the Grill Trading House, one of the leading companies in the East India trade through the Swedish East India Company.

One of the notable Grill family, Claes Grill was born in Stockholm, the son of Abraham Grill and Helena Wittmack and twin brother to Anthoni Grill.

Claes Grill married his uncle Carlos' daughter, Anna Johanna Claes Grill, a woman famed for her beauty.

Claes Grill started to work for his father and at the age of 17 when he was employed at Abraham's office in the Claes Grill Trading House.

Since the family had connections to the Netherlands, Claes Grill went there in 1731 or 1732, to further his education and gain more experience with the trading business.

Claes Grill ran his companies in an old-fashioned, patriarchal way writing letters every week to his managers at the estates concerning everything from the running of the factories to making enquiries about individual employees.

Claes Grill was an art collector and his houses were decorated with Chinese objects as well as paintings by Swedish and Dutch masters like Alexander Roslin, Gustaf Lundberg, Hans Memling and David Teniers.

Claes Grill owned six complete sets of porcelain tableware commissioned from Canton.

Claes Grill was interested in natural science and contributed to different projects, such as helping Carl Linnaeus financially and with the collection of plants and animal specimens from foreign lands.

Claes Grill gave financial support to young scientists and naturalists, lent money to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the construction of an observatory, contributed a substantial sum of money to the Danviken Hospital and saved the Sveriges Riksbank from bankruptcy in 1747 by buying banknotes at their nominal value.

Claes Grill was awarded the honorary title of kommerserad by King Adolf Frederick.

Between 1748 and 1750, Claes Grill was a member of the Bourgeoisie in the Riksdag of the Estates and politically involved with the Hats.

Claes Grill was one of the partners in the infamous Vaxelkontoret, a private financial institution handling mainly promissory notes without the involvement of the central bank.