Reinhold Angerstein

Reinhold Angerstein was a Swedish metallurgist and official who undertook a long journey over the Europe in the mid-18th century to inquire about latest industrial developments in other countries.

Angerstein was born at Vikmanshyttan into the well-established family of ironmasters with German roots. After he completed his education at the University of Uppsala, he took over the family business in 1734 and soon afterwards joined the Swedish Bergscollegium (Mining Council). At the age of 31 Angerstein started a series of long journeys abroad, financed by the Swedish Association of Iron Masters (Jernkontoret) who were interested in finding out about industrial development in other countries. In the following years he visited Denmark, German states, the Habsburgs lands of Bohemia, Carinthia, and Hungary, then Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and the Great Britain. He left a diary of his travels with detailed technical and economic observations from mining. After returning to Sweden, he was appointed at Bergskollegium as Director of Steelworks (Direktör för rikets gröfre svartsmide and continued to operate the family’s ironworks. In 1757 he bought the Vira Iron Works in Uppland, northeast of Stockholm renowned for forging of weapons for the army. Unfortunately, he died three years later.