Wegner (Norwegian family)

Wegner is a Norwegian family whose members have been noted as business magnates, estate owners, timber merchants and lawyers. The Norwegian family is descended from the industrialist Benjamin Wegner and his wife Henriette Wegner, a member of the Berenberg banking dynasty of Hamburg. Born in Königsberg, Benjamin Wegner worked as a businessman in London and Berlin before moving to Norway in 1822 to become managing director and a co-owner of Blaafarveværket, that became Norway's largest mining company and largest industrial company overall under his leadership. He thus was one of the most important early industrial pioneers in the newly independent Norway and one of Norway's leading industrialists from the early to mid-19th century. He also owned Frogner Manor and was a major co-owner of Hassel Iron Works, the Juel, Wegner & Co. timber company and the large Hafslund manor and estate that included around 340,000 decares of forest. He also served as consul-general of the city-states of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen.^[1][2][3]