Gunnar Knudsen Explained

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]

Early life and education

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]

Business career

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]

Political career

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]

Personal life

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.

See also

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gunnar Knudsen. Store norske leksikon . Knut Dørum. July 1, 2017.
  2. Web site: Gjennom ild, vann og land i mer enn 100 år. Borgestad ASA. July 1, 2017.
  3. [#Nissen|Nissen]
  4. [#Nissen|Nissen]
  5. [#Nissen|Nissen]
  6. [#Nissen|Nissen]
  7. [#Nissen|Nissen]
  8. Web site: Gunnar Knudsen. Norsk biografisk leksikon . Per Fuglum. July 1, 2017.
  9. Growth to limits: the Western European welfare states since World War 2: Volume 4 by Peter Flora
  10. Foundations of the Welfare State, 2nd Edition by Pat Thane, published 1996
  11. Web site: Gunnar Knudsen. University of Bergen. July 1, 2017.
  12. http://www.slekt.org/books/quisling/hist2/020-kirkebok.html Utdrag av Gjerpens kirkebøker i hundrede aar: 1815–1914, vedkommende fødte, gifte og døde av mere almindelig interesse