Lotten von Kræmer

Lotten von Kræmer
Charlotte "Lotten" Louise von Kræmer (6 August 1828, in Stockholm – 23 December 1912, in Stockholm) was a Swedish baroness, writer, poet, philanthropist and women's rights activist. She was the founder of the literary society Samfundet De Nio and, alongside Martina Bergman-Österberg, the main financier of the National Association for Women's Suffrage.
Biography
Lotten von Kræmer was the daughter of the governor of Uppsala County, Baron and Maria Charlotte (Lotten) Söderberg and the sister of the writer, scientist and politician Robert von Kraemer. She was raised in the governor's residence at the Uppsala Castle in Uppsala, and received private education from the professors of the Uppsala University.
She was a popular participator of the cultural and intellectual society life in Uppsala. Authors such as Geijer and Atterbom were acquainted with her parents, and Fredrika Bremer was a friend of her mother. She herself proved her talent in various artistic fields such as within literary evenings, dance during the balls and acting during the amateur theater, such as when she played the part of Jane Eyre, in which she was instructed by Elise Hwasser. In the summer of 1847, she visited Germany, Austria and Italy with her family. From 1847, however, her hearing slowly deteriorated as a consequence of scarlet fever, and she eventually became deaf. This ended her society life and affected her deeply. She was engaged to the conservative student Sten Johan Stenberg in 1855, but the engagement ended because of her deteriorating hearing and because he could not accept her radical ideas and her literary ambitions. She never married.
In 1880, her father died and she inherited a great fortune, which she is said to have managed very well. She moved to Stockholm, where she lived a more and more spartan life over the years and was regarded as an original. She spent a great deal of her fortune to finance various organisations of charity and reform of her choice.
Bibliography
Dikter, 1863
Hemresan, song, 1864
Fantasi-klängväxter kring verklighets stam, 1865
Tankar i religiösa ämnen, 1866
Strid''' svenskt original, 1869
Ackorder (poems), 1870
Bland skotska berg och sjöar, 1870
"Tout pour la patrie" (poems), 1872
Nya dikter, 1882
Felicia: svensk familjedram i tre akter, 1882
Sånger och bilder, 1886
En kämpande ande: religiösa dikter, 1886
Florence Nightingale: poesi, 1886
Poesiens vandring (illustrated by Jenny Nyström), 1888
Karins bröllop, novel, 1890
Hermes och Diotima: skådespel i fem akter, 1892
Den kämpande anden: religiösa väckelser och religiöst liv: några sånger och tidsbilder, 1892
Hägringar och luftslott (poems), 1895
Skogsblommor: idyller och ballader (poems), 1896
Eterneller (poems), 1896
Två dikter, 1896
Till Ingeborg och andra dikter, 1897
Fama: skådespel i tre akter, 1902
Fragment jämte andra dikter, 1902
Nästa gång - : berättelser och skisser, 1902
Testamente, 1913
Samlade skrifter'' (published by Samfundet De Nio, with a biography by John Landquist), 1918
Sources
Charlotta (Lotten) L Kræmer, von, urn:sbl:11739, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Ragnar Amenius), hämtad 2014-07-16.
Further reading
1828 births
1912 deaths
Swedish women poets
19th-century Swedish women writers
Swedish nobility
Swedish women's rights activists
19th-century Swedish poets
Swedish philanthropists
Writers from Stockholm
Burials at Uppsala old cemetery
Swedish suffragists
19th-century philanthropists
19th-century women philanthropists