Andreas Tofte (28 March 1795 – 27 September 1852) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

businessperson, elected official and philanthropist. He served as the first Mayor of Oslo, Norway.

Biography

He was born on the Tofte farm at

Hurum Hurum was a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. As of 1 January 2020 Hurum has merged with the municipalities of Røyken and Asker to form the new Asker Municipality located in the newly formed Viken county. The administrative centre of the ...

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardan ...

, Norway. He was a son of landowner Mads Trulsen Tofte (1750–1823) and Elisabeth Borch (1749–1826). In November 1819, he married Christine Søeberg (1797–1848) in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, 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 village ...

. His daughter married businessman

Thorvald Meyer Thorvald Meyer (23 September 1818 – 3 February 1909) was a Norwegian businessman and philanthropist. He was a wholesaler, retailer and shipowner as well as a land owner and developer. Biography Meyer was born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norwa ...

, who inherited his enterprises. He was also an ancestor of

Erling Christophersen Erling Christophersen (April 17, 1898 – November 9, 1994) was a Norwegian botanist, geographer and diplomat. He participated in and led several notable scientific expeditions in the 20th century, including the fifth Tanager Expedition (1924) to ...

and

Christian Schweigaard Stang Christian Schweigaard Stang (15 March 1900 – 2 July 1977) was a Norwegian linguist, Slavicist and Balticist, professor in Balto-Slavic languages at the University of Oslo from 1938 until shortly before his death. He specialized in the study of ...

. In 1819, Tofte moved from

to Christiania (now

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

), where he established commercial citizenship. He operated a

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

and

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...

business which within 10 years made him a wealthy man. He was elected as the first mayor of Christiania in 1837, and also served on the executive committee in 1838, 1841 and 1842. Tofte was a board member and founder of the child care facilities Enerhaugen Asyl and Piperviken Asyl. He also financed the

children's hospital A children's hospital is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In certain special cases, they may also treat adults. The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th ...

Toftes Gift Institute (''Toftes gave'') in Munkedamsveien which was gifted to the municipality. The latter moved to Helgøya in 1896. Tofte died at Christiania in 1851. He was buried at

Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour ( no, Vår Frelsers gravlund) is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great ...

References

1794 births 1851 deaths People from Hurum Norwegian businesspeople Norwegian philanthropists Mayors of Oslo Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour 19th-century philanthropists {{Norway-politician-1790s-stub