Sara Wacklin

Sara Elizabeth Wacklin (26 May 1790 – 28 January 1846) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish educator and writer. She was a pioneer in educating girls, and can be regarded as the first female university graduate in Finland. She can also be regarded as the first female writer in Finland.

Life

Sara Wacklin was born in Uleåborg (Finnish: Oulu), the daughter of the district attorney Zacharias Wacklin (1754–1793) and Katarina Uhlander (1759–1847). After her father died, the economy of the family deteriorated, and after her three brothers left Finland to develop their own careers, Sara Wacklin was left to support their mother. She is described as independent, self-sufficient and intelligent and with a strong will. Due to the reduced fortune of the family, she could not be sent to be educated in Sweden, as was the custom among the Swedish speaking upper classes in Finland, but was forced to be content with an education in an ordinary children's elementary school. To support her mother and earn money to travel to Sweden, she started to work as a teacher in a children's school in Uleåborg in her teens, which was about the only socially acceptable profession for a female not belonging to the working class. Her plans were crushed by the Finnish War of 1808–1809.

In 1813, Wacklin moved to Åbo (Finnish: Turku) where she studied French and music while being active as a governess. Between 1815 and 1819, she worked as a governess in several families in Southern Finland, notably at the Governor of Tavastaland Gustaf Hjärne. In 1819, she finally made her study trip to Sweden, and upon her return, she settled in Uleåborg, where she opened her first school for girls. Her school was a success among the burgher class of Uleåborg, but burned down in the great Uleåborg fire of 1822.