Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (politician), Date of Birth, Date of Death
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Norwegian politician
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About Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (politician)
- Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (18 February 1813 – 23 April 1891) was a Norwegian priest and politician. He was born at Jarlsberg Manor in Vestfold.
- His brother Johan Sverdrup would found the Liberal Party and become Prime Minister of Norway in 1884.He graduated as cand.theol.
- in 1837, and worked as a senior technical officer (amanuensis) at the University Library of Oslo from 1837 to 1845.
- In 1845 he was appointed to a clerical position, that of chaplain in Leikanger.
- In 1849 the district of Balestrand was separated from Leikanger as an own parish, and Sverdrup became vicar (sogneprest) of the new parish.
- He published several works, mostly based on Erik Pontoppidan's explanation of the Luther's Small Catechism.As his brother, Harald Ulrik Sverdrup became involved in politics.
- When Balestrand became a municipality of its own in 1849, Sverdrup became its first mayor.
- He sat as mayor until 1879.
- He was among the establishers of the local savings bank in 1847, and of the transport company Nordre Bergenhus Amts Dampskibe (later: Fylkesbaatane i Sogn og Fjordane) with Jan Henrik Nitter Hansen and Michael Aubert in 1858.He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1851, representing the constituency of Nordre Bergenhus Amt.
- He was re-elected in 1854, 1857, 1859, 1862, 1865 and 1868.
- In 1870 he lost the election due to disagreements with Søren Jaabæk and his supporters, but Sverdrup later returned for a final term from 1874.
- Harald Ulrik Sverdrup stepped down as a priest in 1883.When he stepped down, his son Jakob Sverdrup stood for election, and won.
- He also became a government minister.
- A daughter of Harald Ulrik Sverdrup married the priest and Nynorsk proponent Eirik Olson Bruhjell.
- They had met while Sverdrup was the private tutor of Bruhjell.
- Another of his sons, Edvard Sverdrup, became a professor of theology.
- One of Edvard's sons, Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, Jr., went on to become a well-known oceanographer and meteorologist.
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