The Foundation and the children’s home

In 1766, Uddevalla native Anders Knape Hansson bought Gustafsberg and founded Sweden’s first boarding school here. This still plays a decisive role in the work of the Gustafsberg Foundation today.

In 1772, Anders Knape and his wife Catharina Hegardt established a foundation through their will. Its purpose was to provide a home and education for talented boys in need from Bohuslan. The Knape couple had no children of their own and were exceptionally wealthy. Knape himself had built his fortune from nothing.

Having lost his father at an early age, Anders Knape went to sea as a young man and later returned to his home town as a wealthy man. He was an enterprising merchant who established a herring-salting business, a shipyard and a shipping company with nine vessels. In addition to Gustafsberg, he owned the Gullmarsberg estate and its associated farms.

When King Gustav III approved the Knape Foundation in 1774, the site was renamed from Baggetofta and the school became known as Gustafsberg Children’s Home. Anders Knape himself took a seat on its board of directors.

The Knape couple had set out very clear rules for both the foundation and the children’s home in their will. Although the will has been revised several times over the years, much of what they wrote must still be taken into account today.

Only boys were eligible to live and study at Gustafsberg, although girls could also receive financial support. After approximately six years of boarding and study, the aim was for the boys from Bohuslan to become capable professionals. When they finished school, they entered a period of service, usually an apprenticeship, and were provided with a Bible, pocket money and a change of clothes.

The school at Gustafsberg was unusual in several ways, with an educational approach that remains recognisable today. The boys studied subjects such as crafts, music and languages, which was highly unusual at the time.

The school closed in 1924. In 1949, a boarding home opened instead for 30 boys who studied in Uddevalla and lived at Gustafsberg. It closed in 1976, exactly 200 years after Anders Knape founded the children’s home.

Since then, the donor’s wish to “promote young people’s education and upbringing” has been upheld through scholarships. The Gustafsberg Foundation currently awards SEK 300,000 each year to 15 scholarship recipients. You can read more under Scholarships.