Arthur Laurenson

File:Arthur Laurenson - Shetland Museum and Archives X00041.jpg

Arthur Laurenson's memorial Plaque at Lerwick Town Hall<br>Photo from Shetland Museum and Archives.

Arthur Laurenson (b. 4 November 1832, Lerwick - d. 14 November 1890, Leog House, Lerwick) was an antiquarian, author and politician.

Arthur was the oldest of two children born to Laurence Laurenson (1799-1867) and his wife Catherine Hoseason Gray, (b. 28 September 1794, Cliff, Unst). His father had established a drapery and hosiery business in Lerwick in 1818, Laurenson & Co., in which Arthur would himself work. In the 1851 census, the family are recorded at 1 Hill lane, Lerwick.

Arthur was a pupil of the Moravian teacher John Glass at the Lerwick Subscription School. He subsequently travelled in Norway and Sweden to pursue his interest in the literature and language of Scandinavia, evidenced in his study 'The Colour-Sense in the Edda'. His father died in 1867, after which Arthur took over the management of the family business.

Politically, Laurenson was a Liberal and a long-term member of Lerwick Town Council, as well as the Zetland County Council (briefly). With John Gatherer he founded the Shetland Literary and Scientific Society, afterwards serving as secretary, and he was a friend of Gilbert Goudie. He was given the responsibility for the decoration of the new Lerwick Town Hall, designing the stained glass windows and roof shields, as well as the Zetland County Seal.

Arthur Laurenson never married. Latterly, he lived in Leog House, Lerwick, where he died on the 14th of November, 1890. Although he died a few years before Jakob Jakobsen the Faeroese philologist arrived in Shetland, nonetheless his work was one Jakobsen's sources, and his study, written in Danish Om sproget paa Shetlandsoerne (on the language of the Shetland islands), was later translated by John Nicolson, and published by Johnson and Greig as The Shetland Dialect.

A memorial shield in the Town Hall bears the following inscription: In memory of the services he [Laurenson] rendered his birthplace by employing his many intellectual gifts in furtherance of every good, noble and patriotic enterprise, his high accomplishment as an exponent of Scandinavian literature, his rare taste and love for everything beautiful and seemly and that modest nature that made him loved and honoured not only in his native country but in many distant lands - Friends erected this tablet, 1892.

His letters and papers were edited by Catherine Spence and published by T Fisher Unwin of London in 1901 as Arthur Laurenson: his letters and literary remains: a selection with an introductory memoir. Other works by Arthur Laurenson include On Certain Beliefs and phrases of Shetland Fishermen, Two Norse Lays, The Franco-German War, and Diplomatarium Hialtlandense.

His death caused the Lerwick South by-election in 1891.

Political Career

Lerwick Town Council

• Lerwick Town Council Election September 1862
• Lerwick Town Council Election September 1865
• Lerwick Town Council Election September 1868
• Lerwick Town Council Election September 1871
• Lerwick Town Council Election November 1876

County Council

• County Council Election February 1890

See Also

• The New Shetlander No 85

External Links

• Laurenson's study of the beliefs and phrases of Shetland fishermen is available at<br>
• & Shetland Museum has a photo of the Town Hall memorial
• Bayanne genealogy page

Zetland County Council
Constituency created	Member for Lerwick South Feb - Dec 1890	Succeeded by James Goudie