Christopher Knudsen (4 October 1843 – 28 July 1915) was a Norwegian priest and politician for the Conservative Party. He was Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1905 to 1906. Knudsen was born in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

as a son of railroad worker Knud Larssen (1814–66) and Marie A. Christophersen Aaserud (1812–1890). He was married twice; first from February 1869 to Marie Charlotte Andrea Hermanstorff (1849–1873), then from September 1874 to Ida Regine Lohne (1855–1949). He was an uncle of politician Knud Christian Knudsen. He finished his secondary education in 1861, graduated with the

cand.theol. Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

degree in 1867, and in 1879 he became

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

in the newly established parish of

Nedre Eiker Nedre Eiker was a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Eiker. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mjøndalen. The old municipality of Eiker was divided into ''Nedre Eiker' ...

. When Nedre Eiker became its own municipality in 1885, he sat in the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

and on the school board and was elected mayor. He left Nedre Eiker in 1886, and became a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

in Drammen. He was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

from that city in

1894 Events January * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United States. * Ja ...

and

1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

. He was then elected for a third term in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

from the constituency

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

, where he had been appointed vicar. On 11 March 1905, when

Michelsen's Cabinet The Michelsen's Cabinet was a Norwegian cabinet, formed by a coalition of the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Moderate Liberal Party and the Coalition Party. It governed Norway between 11 March 1905 and 23 October 1907. It entered off ...

assumed office, Knudsen was appointed Norwegian Minister of Education and Church Affairs. This cabinet oversaw the

dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 The dissolution of the union (; ; Landsmål: ''unionsuppløysingi''; ) between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden under the House of Bernadotte, was set in motion by a resolution of the Storting on 7 June 1905. Following some months of tension an ...

. Knudsen left the cabinet on 26 January 1906.

References

1843 births 1915 deaths Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Government ministers of Norway Mayors of places in Buskerud Members of the Storting Members of the Storting 1895–1897 Members of the Storting 1898–1900 Members of the Storting 1900–1903 Ministers of education of Norway Norwegian priest-politicians Norwegian schoolteachers Politicians from Drammen University of Oslo alumni {{Norway-politician-1840s-stub