Ivar Kristian Lasson (1754-1823)

Iver (Ivar) Christian Lasson (20 June 1754/1755 – 16 January 1823)

Iver Christian Lasson (also rendered “Ivar Kristian Lasson”) was a Danish cavalry officer who rose to generalmajor and held significant command responsibilities during the 1813 campaign period. He is remembered less for grand battlefields than for competent leadership of mounted troops and a reputation for disciplined, composed command—slebne og bestemte Optræden, as one contemporary-leaning summary has it.

Early life and unusually early “commission”

Lasson was born at Uggerslevgård (sources differ slightly on whether the year is 1754 or 1755). He was raised in part at Harridslevgård under his grandmother’s care and received an officer’s appointment extraordinarily young—an arrangement best understood as a social-honorific entry into the cavalry establishment, later regularised into active seniority.

Military career

His postings were dominated by Denmark’s cavalry regiments in the kingdom and the duchies, with increasing senior responsibility as the Napoleonic Wars pressed Denmark into a defensive posture.

Selected service timeline

• c. 1760s: Early officer appointment in the Fynske Regiment lette Dragoner.
• 1772: Entered the active roster as sekondløjtnant.
• 1776: Promoted premierløjtnant.
• 1782: Promoted ritmester.
• 1783: Transferred to the sjællandske Rytterregiment.
• 1789: Returned to the Fynske Dragoner.
• 1793: Promoted major.
• 1803: Transferred to the slesvigske Regiment Ryttere (later slesvigske Kyrasserer).
• 1806: Promoted oberstløjtnant.
• 1808: Promoted oberst.
• 1809: Became regimental chief.
• 1812: Promoted generalmajor; ordered to assume the acting general command in northern Jutland (Generalkommandoen i Nørrejylland) on a temporary basis.
• 1813: Appointed commander of the Auxiliary Corps’ 2nd Brigade (Auxiliærkorpsets 2. Brigade); received the Dannebrogorden (as recorded in later summaries).
• 1819–1823: Again held high-level command responsibility in northern Jutland in an acting capacity, alongside regimental duties.

The 1813 campaign and the action at Boden

Lasson’s most distinct operational footprint lies in 1813, when he commanded a brigade in the Danish auxiliary formation operating on the southern border. Later biographical accounts preserve pointed assessments from superiors: he was considered an able cavalry commander and an educated man “who writes much and well,” though not immune to the vices that attend competence—vanity and fastidiousness are mentioned, with the faintly amused severity of staff-room candour.

Operationally, the same accounts credit him with effective brigade leadership and personal courage, with particular emphasis on the brigade’s engagement at Boden on 4 December 1813. Even allowing for the stylised tone of nineteenth-century military biography, the through-line is clear: Lasson’s reputation rested on steadiness under pressure and the capacity to manage mounted troops and mixed detachments in a politically and militarily fraught theatre.

Marriage, widow, and later domestic trace

Lasson married first into the von Løvenørn family, and later (in 1808) Anna Seehusen. Their son, Georg Henrik von Lasson, also became an officer. A later, unusually concrete postscript appears in Copenhagen census-era material: Anna Lasson is recorded as a widow residing at Admiralgade 22 in the mid-nineteenth century household context, alongside children and grandchildren—an urban echo of a family whose earlier life was shaped by regiments, postings, and the long administrative tail of war.

Sources

• Dansk biografisk Lexikon (Bricka), “Lasson, Iver Christian, 1755–1823, Officer” (Project Runeberg), p. 124
• Continuation page (Project Runeberg), p. 125
• Ivar Kristian Lasson (German Wikipedia)
• Admiralgade 22 (English Wikipedia) — census note mentioning Anna Lasson, widow of Major-General Iver Christian Lasson