Biography

Swedish civil servant, journalist, novelist, dramatist, editor, member of parliament who advocated social reforms, and orator.

Died suddenly of a heart attack while leading a procession of students through the streets to raise a statue to Swedish king Carl XII.

He was an illegitimate child, fathered by a priest, Mårten Christoffer Bergvall, on Katarina Hedberg, a servant girl. August was raised by his stepfather, blacksmith Johan Jacob Blanck, whom his mother married and whose name Blanche adopted (somewhat altered).