User:Iselilja/PrimeMinisters

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Early life and education
Knudsen was born in 1848 at the medium-sized farm Saltrød in Stokken, now part of Arendal at the South coast of Norway. His father Christen Knudsen was a sea captain and ship-owner, whose ancestors had lived at the farm for several generations. His mother Guro Aadnesdatter had grown up at one of the smaller farms in Saltrød which her father which hailed from Vegusdal has bought. Christen Knudsen established a shipyard in Arendal in 1951, but in 1955 he and the family moved to Frednes in Porsgrunn.

A brother of Gunnar died in 1855, his two living sibling were Jørgen Christian Knudsen (born 1843) and Ellen Serine (born 1846).

He started studying at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1865 where he got a degree as engineer in 1867. 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 launced in 1871. The stay in England convinced Knudsen that the days of sail ships would soon be over and that the family business neeeded to start building steam ships in the future.

Gunnar and his brother Jørgen Christian took over the shipyard after 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. 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.

Marriage and Borgestad Manor
Knudsen married Sofie Cappelen on 1 July 1880 at Borgestad Manor where she was from. When Knudsen's father in law died in 1981, Knudsen bought the place and the couple settled there.

Political activity
In 1985, Knudsen was appointed a member of the 10 member Worker Commission that was appointed by the Sverdrup's Cabinet.

Knudsen's First Cabinet, 1908–1910
Knudsen's First Cabinet

Knudsen's Second Cabinet, 1913–1920
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Knudsen's Second Cabinet 31 January 1913 	21 June 1920

Personal life
] ] Knudsen married Sofie Cappelen on 1 July 1880 at Borgestad Manor. She was the sole child and heir to the estate and had ties to several of the wealthiest and most prominent families in the area. She came from a conservative milieu but gradually got more liberal attitudes through the marriage.

Living in Gothenburg at the time, he took interest in Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt when it was published in 1867 and later named his first leisure cutter after it. Nissen p. 26 In 1881, he got a new cutter named Terje Vigen which he sailt for almost the rest of his life.

He had musical interest and played the cello.