Christian Ancher (27 July 1711 – 9 January 1765) was a Norwegian merchant, timber trader and ship owner.

Biography

Ancher was born in

Søndre Land Søndre Land is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Land. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hov. Other villages in the municipality include Fluberg and Odnes. Th ...

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The co ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. He was the son of Bernt Ancher (1680–1724) and Karen Tanche (1685–1758). The son of a vicar in the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

, he trained in the trading house established by cousins James Collett (1655–1727) and Peder Leuch (1692–1746) in Christiania (now Oslo). He eventually became the largest

timber trade There are multiple market layers for wood products. Each country has its own domestic market that may be connected to a regional or global market. Timber supply to domestic markets in many tropical forest countries is largely provided by informal lo ...

r in Christiania. He was also quite active in shipping. He is commonly associated with his residence, Paléet Manor near

Bjørvika Bjørvika is a neighborhood in the Sentrum borough of Oslo, Norway. The area is an inlet in the inner Oslofjord, situated between Gamlebyen and Akershus Fortress. It serves as an outlet for the river Akerselva. Since the 2000s, it has been und ...

, which later was used as a Royal residence.

Personal life

He was married to Karen Elieson (1723–1806). They were the parents of four sons:

Bernt Anker Bernt Anker (22 November 1746 – 21 April 1805) was a Norwegian merchant, chamberlain and playwright. He was born in Christiania, the son of Christian Ancher and a brother of Peder Anker and cousin of Carsten Anker. His business included ...

who was a merchant and owner of

Frogner Manor Frogner Manor (''Frogner Hovedgård'') is a manor house and former estate in today's borough of Frogner in Oslo, Norway. The estate comprised most of the modern borough of Frogner, which has been named after the estate, and Frognerseteren with ...

Peder Anker Peder Anker (8 December 1749 – 10 December 1824) was a prominent Norwegian landowner, businessman and politician. He served as the prime minister of Norway from 1814 until 1822. Biography Peder Anker was a member of a Danish-Norwegian nob ...

who became

Prime Minister of Norway The prime minister of Norway ( no, statsminister, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department ...

and was owner of Bogstad Manor, as well as Iver (1745–1772) and Jess (1753–1798).

References

1711 births 1765 deaths People from Søndre Land Norwegian merchants 18th-century Norwegian businesspeople {{norway-business-bio-stub