Gunnar Knudsen
Gunnar Knudsen | |
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3rd Prime Minister of Norway | |
In office 31 January 1913 – 21 June 1920 |
|
Monarch | Haakon VII |
Preceded by | Jens Bratlie |
Succeeded by | Otto Bahr Halvorsen |
In office 19 March 1908 – 2 February 1910 |
|
Monarch | Haakon VII |
Preceded by | Jørgen Løvland |
Succeeded by | Wollert Konow |
Personal details | |
Born | 19 September 1848 Saltrød, Norway |
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Skien, Norway |
Political party | Liberal Party |
Gunnar Knudsen (19 September 1848, Saltrød – 1 December 1928, Skien), born Aanon Gunerius Knudsen, was a Norwegian politician from the Liberal Party who had two spells as Prime Minister of Norway from 1908 to 1910 and from 1913 to 1920. He also owned a number of shipping companies, and created the Borgestad corporation.
Early life and education
Knudsen was born in 1848 at the medium-sized farm Saltrød in Stokken, now part of Arendal at the South coast of Norway. His father Christen Knudsen was a sea captain and ship-owner, whose ancestors had lived at the farm for several generations. His mother Guro Aadnesdatter had grown up at one of the smaller farms in Saltrød which her father which hailed from Vegusdal has bought. Christen Knudsen established a shipyard in Arendal in 1851, but in 1855 he and the family moved to Frednes in Porsgrunn.[1]
A brother of Gunnar died in 1855, his two living siblings were Jørgen Christian Knudsen (born 1843) and Ellen Serine (born 1846) who married Johan Jeremiassen.[2]
He started studying at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1865 where he got a degree as engineer in 1867.[3] Returning to Norway, he started working at Aker's Mechanical Workshop and then went to England where he studied ship building technics at Piles Shipyard in Sunderland. The first ship he designed for the family's shipyard was Gambetta, named after the French politician Léon Gambetta. It was launched in 1871. The stay in England convinced Knudsen that the days of sail ships would soon be over and that the family business neeeded to start building steam ships in the future.[4]
Gunnar and his brother Jørgen Christian took over the shipyard after their father in 1872. In the following years they would also take over ships their father owned and the brothers formed a shipyard and shipping company together: J.C. og G. Knudsen.[5] In the period until 1879, Knudsen designed five ships for the company. He named the fifth Crossroad; it was the last sail ship he designed.
In social policy, Knudsen's time as prime minister saw the passage of the Sickness insurance Law of September 1909 provided compulsory coverage for employees and workers below a certain income limit, representing approximately 45% of all wage earners.[6] That same year, the state approved free midwife services for unmarried mothers. In 1915, free midwife services were extended to the wives of men included under the national health insurance scheme.[7]
Personal life
Gunnar Knudsen married Anna Sofie Cappelen in 1880, and together they had five children, born between 1882 and 1893; Erik, Christen, Gudrun, Margit and Rolf.[8] Margit, married Schiøtt, was elected to the national parliament in 1945. Christen Knudsen had a son Knut Andreas Knudsen who became a politician as well.
References
- ↑ Nissen p. 9–10
- ↑ Nissen p. 11
- ↑ Nissen p. 16
- ↑ Nissen p. 19
- ↑ Nissen p. 23
- ↑ Growth to limits: the Western European welfare states since World War 2: Volume 4 by Peter Flora
- ↑ Foundations of the Welfare State: 2nd Edition by Pat Thane, published 1996
- ↑ Utdrag av Gjerpens kirkebøker i hundrede aar: 1815–1914, vedkommende fødte, gifte og døde av mere almindelig interesse
Sources
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Political offices | ||
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Preceded by | Prime Minister of Norway 1908–1910 |
Succeeded by Wollert Konow |
Preceded by | Prime Minister of Norway 1913–1920 |
Succeeded by Otto Bahr Halvorsen |
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- 1848 births
- 1928 deaths
- Members of the Parliament of Norway
- Liberal Party (Norway) politicians
- Government ministers of Norway
- Prime Ministers of Norway
- Ministers of Agriculture and Food of Norway
- Norwegian company founders
- Norwegian businesspeople in shipping
- People from Skien
- Ministers of Finance of Norway
- Norwegian politician, 1840s birth stubs
- Norwegian business biography stubs
- Shipping biography stubs