Fredrik Wilhelm von Otter (11 April 1833 – 9 March 1910) was a Swedish ''
friherre
(; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...
'', naval officer and politician, most notably serving as
Prime Minister of Sweden
The prime minister ( sv, statsminister ; literally translating to "Minister of State") is the head of government of Sweden. The prime minister and their cabinet (the government) exercise executive authority in the Kingdom of Sweden and are subj ...
from 1900 to 1902.
Life and work
Otter was born on the Fimmersta
estate (
Töreboda Municipality
Töreboda Municipality (''Töreboda kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Töreboda and it includes the population centers of Älgarås and Moholm.
The present municipality ...
) in
Västergötland
Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden.
Väs ...
and belonged to the wealthy and
aristocratic
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At the time of the word's ...
von Otter family. He entered the
Royal Swedish Navy
The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps ().
In Swedish, vessels o ...
as
second lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
at the age of 17, but remained without promotion for a long time. Meanwhile, he served in the
British Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fra ...
from 1857 to 1861, participating in campaigns against
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
s in the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
, and took part in one of
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the Fenno-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friher ...
's
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...
expeditions in 1868, as commander of the expedition ship ''Sofia''.
He was promoted to
commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
and made
aide-de-camp of Crown Prince Oscar, the Duke of Östergötland, in 1872 and remained so after the prince's accession to the throne as
Oscar II
Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; 21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907) was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905.
Oscar was the son of King Oscar I and Queen Josephine. He inherited the Swedish and Norweg ...
in 1873.
In 1874 he was promoted to
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
and appointed
Ministry for Naval Affairs in the cabinet, succeeding Major General Baron
Abraham Leijonhufvud. He remained in this position until the resignation of the
De Geer cabinet in 1880, after which he was appointed director of the naval shipyard in
Karlskrona. He was made a
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
in 1884, a
vice admiral in 1892 and
admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
in 1900.
He also represented
Blekinge County
Blekinge County ( sv, Blekinge län) is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' in the south of Sweden. It borders the Counties of Skåne County, Skåne, Kronoberg County, Kronoberg, Kalmar County, Kalmar and the Baltic Sea. The capital is Karl ...
in the parliamentary First Chamber 1891–1899, and
Karlskrona in the Second Chamber 1900–1902.
After the resignation of
Erik Gustaf Boström
Erik Gustaf Bernhard Boström (11 February 1842 – 21 February 1907) was a Swedish landowner and politician who was a member of the Swedish Parliament (1876–1907) and the longest-serving Prime Minister of Sweden of the 19th century. He ...
in 1900, Otter was offered the premiership by the king and formed a cabinet which would remain in office for two years. As Prime Minister he was responsible for carrying through the remodelling of the military system and the final abolition of the
allotment system introduced by
Charles XI more than 200 years earlier. In connection with the new military organization, a
progressive taxation
A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases.Sommerfeld, Ray M., Silvia A. Madeo, Kenneth E. Anderson, Betty R. Jackson (1992), ''Concepts of Taxation'', Dryden Press: Fort Worth, TX The term ''progr ...
system was introduced. After the end of that parliamentary session in July 1902, Otter resigned and was succeeded by his predecessor Boström. The main reason for his resignation was the failure in the ''Riksdag'' of a proposed bill on voting rights. He spent his remaining years managing his estate at Trantorp outside Karlskrona.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otter, Fredrik
1833 births
1910 deaths
People from Töreboda Municipality
Members of the Första kammaren
Prime Ministers of Sweden
Swedish Navy admirals
Swedish nobility
Members of the Andra kammaren
Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword
Barons of Sweden
19th-century Swedish politicians
20th-century Swedish politicians