Johan Börjesson

• Name — Johan Börjesson • Honorific Prefix — The Reverend • Honorific Suffix — RDDO, LVVS • Born — 30 August 1790 • Birthplace — Tanum, Sweden • Died — 6 May 1866 • Occupation — Prelate, poet, and dramatist • Language — Swedish • Education — Theology • Alma Mater — Uppsala University • Movement — Phosphorism Romanticism • Spouse — Fredrika Gustava Fock • Children — 2, including Agnes Börjesson • Relatives — Bishop Johan Wingård (uncle) Archbishop Carl Fredrik af Wingård (cousin) Freiherr:sv:Berndt Wilhelm Fock (father-in-law) • Years Active — 1814–1866

Johan Börjesson was born in Tanum, Bohuslän, in 1790 to Börje Hansson and Agneta Wingård. His uncle was Bishop Johan Wingård, his cousin Archbishop Carl Fredrik af Wingård. He enrolled at Uppsala University in 1808, graduated in 1815, and was ordinated priest in the Church of Sweden in 1816. While in Uppsala, Börjesson was admitted to the romanticist society Aurora, where he initiated his poetic endeavours, although he never quite embraced the movement's ideals. Johan Börjesson married Fredrika Gustava Fock, the daughter of Freiherr:sv:Berndt Wilhelm Fock, in 1823. They had two daughters, of which one survived into adulthood, the artist Agnes Börjesson, who became one of the four first women admitted to the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. Later in life, in the early 1860s, his manse was visited by the British novelist Horace Marryat who subsequently published a travelogue, One year in Sweden (published 1862; Swedish translation 1863), based in his impressions and findings while staying with the family. After a long time on the countryside, towards the last few months of his life he returned to Uppsala.

• Illustration — Johan Börjesson as prelate in Uppsala (circa 1820). Following his ordination into priesthood, he was designated Adjunct (Church of Sweden) in Uppsala parish, Archdiocese of Uppsala, and in 1820 its attorney. His preaching gained reputation, and in 1821 he was admitted as preacher at the Royal Court of Sweden. He was appointed vicar in three parishes in the Archdiocese of Uppsala in 1828, whereafter elevated to provost in 1840. At the time of the Coronation of King Oscar I of Sweden in 1844, he was promoted to Doctor of Theology.

• Chair 3 of the Swedish Academy (1859) • Grand Prize of the Swedish Academy (1856) • Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog (1856) • Member of the Royal Society of Sciences and Letters in Gothenburg (1823) • Grand Prize of the Royal Society of Sciences and Letters in Gothenburg (1814)

Johan Börjesson is recorded as having received Svenska Akademiens stora pris.