Halvdan Aarsrud (29 September 1878 – 25 July 1925) was a Norwegian bailiff and politician for the Labour Party. He was born in Våler Municipality in

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

as a son of farmer and politician Hermann Hansen Aarsrud (1837–1927) and Amalie Lundeby (1849–1915). After finishing primary school and county school, he graduated from

Jønsberg Agricultural School Jønsberg or Jonsberg may refer to: People * Barry Jonsberg (born 1951), Australian author and teacher * Nils Jønsberg (1808-1885), Norwegian priest and politician Places * Jønsberg Upper Secondary School, an upper secondary school in Stan ...

. In 1907, he settled as a farmer in Våler, first at the farm Nervåle and later at Sole. From 1918, he was also the bailiff of Våler; and he was the director of the local savings bank. He was a member of 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 ...

of Våler Municipality from 1913 to 1925, serving as mayor from 1913 to 1918. He was also a member of the school board and county roads committee. He chaired the constituency branch of the Labour Party in

Solør Solør is a Norwegian traditional district consisting of the valley between Elverum in the north and Kongsvinger in the south. It is part of Innlandet county and it includes Våler Municipality, Åsnes Municipality, and Grue Municipality. G ...

. In the 1915 parliamentary election he was fielded as the running mate of Labour's candidate Ivar Hvamstad, and with 3,679 votes Hvamstad edged out the closest challenger, Liberal Per Aasness with a wide margin. Hvamstad assumed his parliamentary seat in early 1916, but died in May 1916, upon which point Aarsrud replaced him as an MP. Aarsrud then ran for re-election in

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

, now with A. G. Fjeldseth as his running mate, and with 3,952 votes he edged out Aasness as the closest challenger who tallied 1,637 votes. Aarsrud served through 1921 as a member of the Standing Committee on Forestry and Water Resources. From 1920 to 1923, he was a deputy board member of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Agency. He died in July 1925.

References

1878 births 1925 deaths People from Våler, Norway Labour Party (Norway) politicians Hedmark politicians Members of the Storting 1916–1918 Norwegian police chiefs {{Norway-politician-1870s-stub