Enok Daniel Bærentsen (1831-1900)

Merchant and politician. One of the most prominent Faroese politicians of the 19th century. He served a total of 24 years in the Faroese Parliament and one in the Danish Parliament. He was among the organisers of the 1888 Christmas Meeting. His son, Christian Bærentsen, became County Commissioner in the Faroe Islands.

Enok Bærentsen, merchant, was laid to rest on August 22^nd 1900. He passed aged 69 after a short illness. The obituary in the paper Føringatíðindi on 23^rd August described him as: ‘a hard-working politician, eager and passionate about every cause he sought to champion.’ He was among the leading Faroese politicians during his lifetime and served many years in the Faroese Parliament. As an MP he played an active role in the debate about the release of parcels of state-owned land, and in 1893 he cast his vote in favour of the Bill on the Release for Transfer of Plots of Land from Danish State Land in the Faroe Islands. In 1857 he sat in the Danish Parliament.

Enok was the son of a copyhold farmer from Sund, but for many years made his living as an entrepreneur in Tórshavn. He had studied commerce in Copenhagen and was granted a business license shortly after free trade was legalised in the Faroe Islands. He later ran a popular dance hall in Bringsnagøta. Both the store and dance hall were in his own private home in Bringsnagøta, commonly known as Bærentsens hús. Carolina Heinesen from Tórshavn describes life in Bringsnagøta in her memoirs: ‘At the time it was a lively neighbourhood, when Bringsnagøta was the thoroughfare all the churchgoers had to pass through it, and there were several shops in the vicinity, later a pharmacy also opened and Bærentsen’s well-visited dance hall.’

Enok held a variety of public positions, including 14 years on the school board, the church treasury in 1864, and 13 years in the Citizen’s Representation, as the town council was called at the time. He was also among the organisers of the 1888 Christmas meeting. In 1894 he became editor of the paper Dimmalætting. Enok’s son Christian Bærentsen was appointed County Commissioner of the Faroe Islands in 1897.

Sources:

Death notice. In: Dimmalætting 25^th August 1900. Tórshavn.

1900. D. Bærentsen. In: Føringatíðindi 23^rd August 1900. Tórshavn.

Fortegnelse over de i henhold til Lov af 21de Marts 1855 udstedte Antagelsesbreve til at etablere Handel 1856-1881, pg. 3.

Løgtingstíðindi 1893. 1893. Tórshavn.

Memoirs by Caroline Heinesen, b. 1873 (unpublished manuscript).

Nolsøe, Jens Pauli A. & Jespersen, Kári. Havnar søga IV. 2009. Tórshavn.

South Streymoy Parish Register. Deaths men, pg. 145.