JAFMargie385530 at 10:34, 18 April 2026

2026-04-18T10:34:04Z

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{{Short description|Danish colonial governor (1728–1794)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Peter Hermann Abbestée
| image = Peter Herman Abbestée.jpg
| office = [[Governor of Tranquebar|Governor of Danish India]]
| monarch = [[Christian VII of Denmark|Christian VII]]
| deputy =
| term_start = 1779
| term_end = 1788
| predecessor = ''None''
| successor = [[Peter Anker]]
| birth_name = Peter Hermann Abbestée
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1728|7|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Copenhagen]], Denmark
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1794|12|29|1728|7|29|df=yes}}
| death_place = Copenhagen, Denmark
| spouse = {{marriage|Françoise Lange|1768}}
| children =
| parents =
| alma_mater =
| signature =
}}
'''Hermann Abbestée''' (29 July 1728 – 29 December 1794) was [[Denmark|Danish]] governor of [[Tranquebar]] from 1762 to 1775 and the first royal governor of [[Danish India]] from 1779 to 1788. He served as one of the seven directors of the [[Danish Asiatic Company]] from 1775 to 1778 and was also active as a trader.

==Early life and background==
Abbestée was born on 29 July 1728 in [[Copenhagen]], the son of vintner Helvig Abbestée (1697–1742) and Maria Barbara Fabritius (1704–75). His father and mother{{mdash}}who were uncle and niece{{mdash}}belonged to the city's [[Reformed Church, Copenhagen|German Reformed congregation]]. His father went bankrupt for the second time in 1738. His mother was the younger sister of [[Michael Fabritius]] and [[Just Fabritius]]. After his father's death, his mother married the director of the [[Danish Asiatic Company]], [[Peter van Hurk]] (c. 1697–1775).<ref name="DBL">{{cite web|url=https://biografiskleksikon.lex.dk/Hermann_Abbest%C3%A9e|title=Hermann Abbestée|language=Danish|website=[[Dansk Biografisk Leksikon]]|access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Silhouette of Peter Hermann Abbestée.jpg|thumb|Silhouette of Hermann Abbestée]]
In 1752, Abbestée was employed by the Danish Asiatic Company as a trade assistant in [[Tranquebar]]. He arrived in 1753 on board the company's ship ''[[HSMS Södermanland (1693)|Sydermanland]]''. He was in 1755 sent on a mission to [[Travancore]] to negotiate a [[Factory (trading post)|factory]] in [[Colachel]] under his own management. He was its first [[Opperhoofd]] but was already the following year appointed as Opperhoofd of the factory in [[Calicut]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foreningen-trankebar.dk/402582517|title=Peter Hermann Abbestée (1728|language=Danish|website=Foreningen Trankebar|access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref>

In 1760, Abbestée returned to Tranquebar and upon H. J. Forch's death, on 29 April 1761, was elected as the colony's acting governor. In 1775, he was succeeded by [[David Brown (1734–1804)|David Brown]]. He and his family returned to Copenhagen in the Danish Asiatic Company's frigate ''[[Dronning Caroline Mathilde (DAC ship)|Ganges]]''. The ship set sail from Tranquebar in February 1775, bound for Copenhagen. She reached Copenhagen on 27 August 1775.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://slaegtsbibliotek.dk/927623.pdf|title=Familien Abbestée.|language=Danish|author=Sommer, O. F.|website=slaegtsbibliotek.dk|access-date=16 June 2022}}</ref>

Abbestée was appointed one of the seven directors of the Danish Asiatic Company. He represented the company in the commission which was set up in connection with the transfer of the East Asiatic colonies to the state in 1777. In the same year, he was appointed the first royal governor of [[Danish India]] and was granted the rank of [[Brigadier]]. He and his family boarded the ship ''[[Dronning Juliana Maria (1775 DAC ship)|Dronning Juliana Maria]]'' in December, bound for Tranquebar, but the voyage ran into complications and did not arrive until 16 January 1779. In 1782, he successfully applied for permission to leave his office and return to Copenhagen. It was granted him but due to deaths among his colleagues, he ended up acting as governor until finally being replaced by [[Peter Anker]] in 1788. He returned to Copenhagen in 1789.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D-vKDwAAQBAJ&q=%3AHermann+Abbest%C3%A9e+rustenborg&pg=PR13|title=Consise History of Danish East India Company|author=sridhar, srikaanth|date=19 January 2020|publisher=Foreningen Trankebar|access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref>

Alongside his office as governor, Abbestée also worked as a trader, partly backed by Anglo-Indian capital.<ref name="DBL"/>

==Personal life and legacy==
On 26 December 1768 Abbestée married Françoise Lange (15 January 1749 {{ndash}} 28 March 1779) in Tranquebar.<ref name="DBL" /> Their daughter Marie Barbara (1770–1832) was married to Conrad Lensgreve Blücher af Altona (1764–1845). Abbestée also had another daughter, Pauline (1772–1801), by another unidentified slave. Pauline's first marriage was to J. N. Müller (−1793) and the second to Christian Tullin Boalth (1767–1822). She was the mother of admiral Catharina Pauli (1797–1856). Her daughter Fanny (1795–1833) married [[William Halling]].

Abbestée purchased [[Amaliegade 14]] in Copenhagen shortly prior to his death in 1794. He had inherited the country house Rustenborg in [[Kongens Lyngby]] from his foster father in 1775.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Ole Feldbæk|Feldbæk. Ole]]: ''India trade under the Danish Flag 1772–1808'', 1969. –
* Larsen, Kay: ''Dansk-ostindiske personalia og data, manus. på Kgl. bibl. og Rigsark''. 1912

==External links==
* [https://www.geni.com/people/Herman-Peter-Abbestee-til-Rustenborg-i-Kongens-i-Lyngby/6000000055158660126 Hermann Abbestée] at geni.com
* [http://oldenburgbusiness.net/index.php?title=Abbest%C3%A9e,_Peter_Herman Timeline]
* [http://oldenburgbusiness.net/index.php?title=Abbest%C3%A9e,_Helvigh Timeline /dather]
* [https://natmus.dk/historisk-viden/verden/asien/indien/tranquebar/guvernoerens-residens/publikationer-om-guvernoerhuset-og-interkulturel-kulturarv/dagligliv-i-guvernoerens-residens/ Source]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbestee, Hermann}}
[[Category:Danish civil servants]]
[[Category:18th-century Danish businesspeople]]
[[Category:Directors of the Danish Asiatic Company]]
[[Category:Governors of Danish India]]
[[Category:Danish expatriates in India]]
[[Category:Danish Calvinist and Reformed Christians]]
[[Category:1728 births]]
[[Category:1794 deaths]]
[[Category:1760s in Danish India]]
[[Category:1770s in Danish India]]
[[Category:1780s in Danish India]]

Hermann Abbestée - Revision history

JAFMargie385530 at 10:34, 18 April 2026