Bernt Holtsmark (27 December 1859 – 20 April 1941) 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 ...

farmer and politician for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and the

Liberal Left Party The Free-minded Liberal Party ( no, Frisinnede Venstre) was a political party in Norway founded in 1909 by the conservative-liberal faction of the Liberal Party. The party cooperated closely with the Conservative Party and participated in severa ...

. He was a four-term member of the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) 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 bas ...

, and served as

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

from 1910 to 1912. He was also known for establishing the agricultural college at Sem in his native

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

Personal life

He was born at Tveter farm in

as a son of Bent Holtsmark and his wife Anne Elisabeth Gabrielsen. He was a brother of Torger and

Wilhelm Holtsmark Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

. Through his brother

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

, he was an uncle of professors

Johan Peter Holtsmark Johan Peter Holtsmark (13 February 1894 – 10 December 1975) was a Norwegian physicist, who studied spectral line broadening and electron scattering. In 1929, while at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, Holtsmark established acoustics res ...

and Anne Elisabeth Holtsmark, and painter

Karen Holtsmark Karen Kristine Holtsmark (11 November 1907 – 7 March 1998) was a Norwegian painter. Biography Holtsmark was born at Ås in Akershus, Norway. She was a daughter of Gabriel Gabrielsen Holtsmark (1867–1954) and his wife Margrete Weisse (1871� ...

. He was also a first cousin of Finn,

Wilhelm Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

. and Ragnvald Blakstad. In October 1887 he married Johanne Amalie Koller, a daughter of

Carl Theodor Fredrik Koller Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

. The marriage lasted until her death in February 1917. Holtsmark then married Ingeborg Mathilde Bye in June 1919.

Career

He attended a private agricultural school at

Østensjø Østensjø () is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. The borough is in the southeastern part of Oslo. It is well known for its proximity to the forested area of Østmarka, a popular resort and hiking area for the citizens of Oslo and Løren ...

from 1876 to 1878, the Higher College of Agriculture at Aas from 1883 to 1884 and the

Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule Berlin The Agricultural University of Berlin (german: Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule Berlin) was an agricultural university in Berlin, Germany. Established in 1881, it was closed in 1934, and incorporated as a faculty into the Humboldt University of Be ...

(Agricultural University of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) from 1885 to 1886. In 1887, together with his brother Wilhelm, he established an agricultural college at the farm Sem, today known as a manor which in 2001 lent its name to the Declaration of Sem of the

second cabinet Bondevik Bondevik's Second Cabinet governed Norway between 19 October 2001 and 17 October 2005. It was led by Kjell Magne Bondevik and consisted of the Conservative Party, the Christian Democratic Party and the Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of ...

. They ran the college until 1914. In 1893 he took over the farm Tveter, and was a farmer there. His book ''Husdyrlære'', a textbook on

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

, came in 1897 and was reprinted fourteen times, last in 1961. Also, he contributed to the newspapers and magazines ''Budstikken'', ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

'', ''

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

'', ''

Tidens Tegn ''Tidens Tegn'' (Norwegian: ''Sign of the Times'') is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1910 to 1941. Editors The founder and first editor-in-chief of ''Tidens Tegn'' was Ola Thommessen, who edited the newspaper until 1917. Tho ...

'' and ''

Allers Aller Media is a magazine publisher in the Nordic countries, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. It publishes ''Elle'', ''Cafe'', '' Familie Journalen'', '' Femina'', ''Allers'' and ''Se og Hør''. History Aller Media was founded in Copenha ...

'' with writings on agriculture. He was elected to the

from the constituency Akershus Amt in 1903, and was re-elected in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

. He first represented the

, and in the second term he was registered for the Coalition Party. On 1 March 1910, he was appointed as the new

in the

cabinet Konow Konow's Cabinet was a Norwegian cabinet, formed by a coalition of the Conservative Party and the Free-minded Liberal Party The Free-minded Liberal Party ( no, Frisinnede Venstre) was a political party in Norway founded in 1909 by the conservativ ...

, succeeding

Wollert Konow (SB) Wollert Konow (16 August 1845 – 15 March 1924) was the 12th prime minister of Norway from 1910 to 1912. He was the leader of a coalition cabinet. Konow's time as Prime Minister saw the extension of accident insurance to seamen in 1911. Bac ...

in the position. He held office until the cabinet fell in February 1912. He was later re-elected in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

and

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

to serve a further two parliamentary terms, this time for the

. He was a chairman of the Liberal Left Party for a period. He was also a chairman of the Norwegian Fire Protection Association, and a member of the board of Norsk Husflidsforening, Norsk Landmandsforbund, the

Royal Norwegian Society of Development Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

from 1898 to 1907 and 1919 to 1931, and Havedyrkningens Venner from 1916 to 1935. He received honorary membership in the two latter organizations. From 1927 to 1936 he worked as director and chair of Norges Hypotekbank, and he was also a member of several public boards, agencies and committees. He was decorated as a Commander of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

in 1912.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holtsmark, Bernt 1859 births 1941 deaths Asker politicians Members of the Storting Ministers of Agriculture and Food of Norway Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Coalition Party (Norway) politicians Free-minded Liberal Party politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians Akershus politicians Norwegian College of Agriculture alumni Norwegian expatriates in Germany Norwegian farmers Norwegian educators Norwegian textbook writers Norwegian non-fiction writers