Ingeborg Norell

Ingeborg Norell (born 1727), was the first Finnish female to have received an official decoration and to have been the subject of a commemorative plaque. She was commemorated in recognition for her act by saving a life in Tenala in 1780.^[1]

Norell was likely the daughter of the saddle maker Hans Sten Borg, married in 1764 to the jeweler Carl Gustaf Norell (1738-1782), and had three children.

In April 1780, a two-year-old girl was rescued from the water, but was in an lifeless state and presumed drowned. Norell, who was interested in medicine and had studied the publications of the Collegium Medicum, managed to revive the child by Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In 1782, she was awarded the medal of the Patriotiska Sällskapet, and in 1783, a monetary price. She was a such the first woman to have been given an official recognition in Finland. Her later life is not known.

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