The von Knorring Family

Famous Knorrings

Carl Fredrik von Knorring (1757-1810)

A Lieutenant Colonel in the Swedish army, he was convicted of treason in 1790 for taking part in the Anjala conspiracy, but was pardoned in 1796. After going bankrupt, he fled to Russia. He later issued private bank notes in Finland, which people called KNORRINGS.

Frans Peter von Knorring (1792-1875)

Honored with statues in Mariehamn and at the church of Finström on Åland, Finland, where he served as a dean and worked as a reformer of public education from 1833. A versatile man who published books on many subjects, i e linguistics, geography, pedagogy and economics, and founded the first newspaper on Åland in 1868. His image adorned an Åland postage stamp in 1992.

Sophie von Knorring (1797-1848)

Baroness Sofia Margareta von Knorring, born Zelow. Married to Baron Sebastian Carl v K, Colonel of the Skaraborg Regiment. Reknown Swedish authoress, her first novel in 1834, entitled “The Cousins”, recounted life on a country estate. She continued to write numerous novels using settings of humble environments and local dialects, such as “The Crofter and his Surroundings” from 1843.

Oscar von Knorring (1822-1891)

A Lieutenant Colonel, he also worked as a translator and a popular composer. He published several books from his many journeys in Sweden and abroad, and was a correspondent for Swedish newspapers at the opening of the Suez canal in 1869.

Nadine Dumas (1826-1895)

Nadesjda von Knorring, daughter of Colonel Johan Reinhold v K. First married to the Russian Prince Alexander Narysjkin in Moscow, she fled to Paris in 1850 following a family scandal. In the Russian society in Paris she met the author ALEXANDER DUMAS the younger, with whom she spent the rest of her life. It was not until her husband died in 1864 that she could marry Dumas and publicly acknowledge their two daughters.

Carl Erik von Knorring (1861-1931)

While serving as a naval cadet, he lost his leg in an accident. He then turned to a civilian career and was employed at the Finnish State Railways. A well-known cultural personality in Helsinki at the turn of the century, he was conductor of the Academic Choir and the M M Choir, as well as chairman and manager of the Swedish Theatre. Swedish contemporary painter-author Albert Engström mentions him as “One-legged Calle Knorring”.

Andrej von Knorring (1862-1918)

A Russian Major General. As a young Lieutenant at the Imperial Life Guard, he was a Guard of Honor at the coronation af Tsar Nikolaj II in 1896, together with C G Mannerheim, the future Field Marshal and President of Finland, leading a group of 27 cadets.

Olga von Knorring (1887-1978)

A botanist at the Russian Academy of Science, married Neustrujev. She was the first female botanist to undertake a series of more than sixty expeditions to central Asia, from 1908 and on. She has discovered a large number of unkown plants, and a new species of Labiatae was named after her: PHLOMIS KNORRINGIANA.

Oleg von Knorring (1915-1994)

Born in Russia and raised in Finland, Ph D. An internationally reknown geologist at Leeds University, England. He headed many geological expeditions to Malaysia and Africa, where he in 1968 had a mineral named after him: KNORRINGIT.

Frans Peter von Knorring

Sophie von Knorring

Carl Erik von Knorring