| Gunnar Knudsen | |
| Office1: | 11th Prime Minister of Norway |
| Term Start1: | 31 January 1913 |
| Term End1: | 21 June 1920 |
| Monarch1: | Haakon VII |
| Predecessor1: | Jens Bratlie |
| Successor1: | Otto Bahr Halvorsen |
| Term Start2: | 19 March 1908 |
| Term End2: | 2 February 1910 |
| Monarch2: | Haakon VII |
| Predecessor2: | Jørgen Løvland |
| Successor2: | Wollert Konow |
| Office3: | Minister of Agriculture |
| Term Start3: | 31 January 1913 |
| Term End3: | 12 December 1919 |
| Primeminister3: | Himself |
| Predecessor3: | Erik Enge |
| Successor3: | Håkon Five |
| Term Start4: | 9 June 1903 |
| Term End4: | 22 October 1903 |
| Primeminister4: | Otto Blehr |
| Predecessor4: | Wollert Konow (H) |
| Successor4: | Christian Mathiesen |
| Office5: | Minister of Finance |
| Term Start5: | 12 December 1919 |
| Term End5: | 21 June 1920 |
| Termlabel5: | Acting |
| Primeminister5: | Himself |
| Predecessor5: | Anton Omholt |
| Successor5: | Edvard H. Bull |
| Term Start6: | 19 March 1908 |
| Term End6: | 2 February 1910 |
| Primeminister6: | Himself |
| Predecessor6: | Magnus Halvorsen |
| Term Start7: | 11 March 1905 |
| Term End7: | 31 October 1905 |
| Primeminister7: | Christian Michelsen |
| Predecessor7: | Christian Michelsen |
| Successor7: | Christian Michelsen |
| Term Start8: | 9 June 1903 |
| Term End8: | 22 October 1903 |
| Primeminister8: | Otto Blehr |
| Predecessor8: | Elias Sunde |
| Successor8: | Birger Kildal |
| Office9: | Minister of Auditing |
| Term Start9: | 31 January 1913 |
| Term End9: | 30 June 1918 |
| Primeminister9: | Himself |
| Predecessor9: | Jens Bratlie |
| Successor9: | Position abolished |
| Term Start10: | 19 March 1908 |
| Term End10: | 2 February 1910 |
| Primeminister10: | Himself |
| Predecessor10: | Sven Aarrestad |
| Successor10: | Wollert Konow |
| Term Start11: | 11 March 1905 |
| Term End11: | 7 June 1905 |
| Primeminister11: | Christian Michelsen |
| Predecessor11: | Paul B. Vogt |
| Successor11: | Harald Bothner |
| Term Start12: | 30 March 1903 |
| Term End12: | 9 June 1903 |
| Termlabel12: | Acting |
| Primeminister12: | Otto Blehr |
| Predecessor12: | Wollert Konow (H) |
| Successor12: | Otto Blehr |
| Birth Name: | Aanon Gunerius Knudsen |
| Birth Date: | 19 September 1848 |
| Birth Place: | Saltrød, Aust-Agder, United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway |
| Death Place: | Skien, Telemark, Norway |
| Party: | Liberal |
| Children: | 5 |
Gunnar Knudsen (19 September 1848 – 1 December 1928), born Aanon Gunerius Knudsen, was a Norwegian politician from the Liberal Party who served as the 11th prime minister of Norway twice from 1908 to 1910 and from 1913 to 1920. He also inherited a shipping company, and founded the shipping company Borgestad ASA.[1] [2]
Knudsen was born in 1848 at the medium-sized farm Saltrød at Stokken (now Arendal) in Aust-Agder. Norway. His father Christen Knudsen (1813–1888) was a sea captain and ship-owner, whose ancestors had lived at the farm for several generations. His mother Guro Aadnesdatter (1808–1900) had grown up at one of the smaller farms in Saltrød which her father which hailed from Vegusdal had bought. 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 (he also had four sisters).[3]
Christen Knudsen established a shipyard in Arendal in 1851, but in 1855 he and the family moved to Frednes in Porsgrunn.[4] Gunnar Knudsen started studying at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1865 where he got a degree as engineer in 1867.[5]
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 needed to start building steam ships in the future.[6]
Gunnar and his brother Jørgen Christian took over the shipyard from 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.[7] 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 1904, he merged his interests in three steam ship companies into Borgestad Shipping AS.[8]
In 1886, he became the mayor of Gjerpen and in 1891 elected governor of Telemark. In 1891 Knudsen was elected to the Storting, becoming parliamentary leader in 1908 and party leader from 1909 to 1927. He was elected Prime Minister in 1908 and 1913. In social policy, Knudsen's time as prime minister saw the passage of the Sickness insurance Law of September 1909, which provided compulsory coverage for employees and workers below a certain income limit, representing approximately 45% of all wage earners.[9] 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.[10] [11]
Gunnar Knudsen married Anna Sofie Cappelen (1854–1915) in 1880, and together they had five children, born between 1882 and 1893; Erik, Christen, Gudrun, Margit and Rolf.[12] 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.