Henrik Johan Paus (3 October 1799 – 21 July 1893) was a Norwegian lawyer, government official and the uncle of playwright

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

. He was acting bailiff of Lower Telemark and

Bamble Bamble is a municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Langesund. General information Name The Old Norse form of the name ...

in 1818, a civil servant with the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Eco ...

1819–1823, deputy governor of

Hedemarken Hedmarken (, ; known as ''Hedemarken'' until 2003) is a traditional district in Innlandet county in Eastern Norway. Hedmarken consists of the municipalities Stange, Hamar, Løten, and Ringsaker. In the past, it also contained the municipalitie ...

1823–1826, sheriff of Hof 1826–1830, attorney-at-law and acting judge in Hedemarken 1830–1843, bailiff of

Østerdalen Østerdalen () is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, in Eastern Norway. This area typically is described as the large Glåma river valley as well as all its tributary valleys. It includes the municipalities Rendalen, Alvdal, F ...

1843–1858 and bailiff of

Øvre Romerike Øvre Romerike is the upper (northern) half of the traditional Norwegian district Romerike. It consists of the Akershus municipalities Gjerdrum, Nannestad, Eidsvoll, Hurdal, Ullensaker and Nes. The lower (southern) portion is known as Nedre Romerik ...

1858–1860.

Early life

Henrik Johan Paus was born in

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsj ...

as the son of captain

Ole Paus Ole Paus (born 9 February 1947; full name ''Ole Christian Paus'') is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, poet and author, who is widely regarded as the foremost troubadour of the contemporary Norwegian ballad tradition ( no, visebølgen). During th ...

and Johanne Plesner. He was named for his mother's deceased first husband Henrich Johan Ibsen, and shared his name with his nephew, the playwright. He was both the half-brother of

Knud Ibsen Knud Plesner Ibsen (3 October 1797, in Skien – 24 October 1877, in Skien) was a Norwegian merchant from the city of Skien and the father of the playwright Henrik Ibsen. He is widely considered the model for many central characters in his ...

and the first cousin of

Marichen Altenburg Marichen Cornelia Martine Altenburg (24 April 1799 – 3 June 1869) was the mother of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and is known as the model for several characters in some of Ibsen's most famous plays, including Åse in ''Peer Gynt''.Rober ...

, Henrik Ibsen's parents, and from the age of five he grew up in

Altenburggården Altenburggården (Altenburg House) was a large town house in central Skien, Norway, known as the childhood home of the playwright Henrik Ibsen and his mother Marichen Altenburg. It burned down during the great fire of 1886. It was located at the ...

with his cousin. During his childhood he was also close to his half-brother.

Career

He received private schooling in Skien and attended the burgher school there. In preparation for his university studies he was employed at the office of the bailiff of Lower Telemark and Bamble Bendix Plesner, his mother's cousin, in 1816. At the age of only 18 he became acting bailiff during the latter's extended absence. In 1819 he enrolled at the law faculty at the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, where he graduated in 1822. He worked for the finance ministers

Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg Count Johan Caspar Herman Wedel Jarlsberg (21 September 1779 – 27 August 1840) was a Norwegian statesman and nobleman. He played an active role in the constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814 and was the first native Norwegian to hold the ...

og Jonas Collett in the Ministry of Finance until 1823, when he was appointed deputy governor of Hedemarken. He owned the large estate Østerhaug in Elverum for 25 years. Upon his retirement he returned to Skien.

Jørgen Haave Jørgen Haave (born 1971) is a Norwegian literary scholar and the senior curator and director of the Henrik Ibsen Museum in Skien, a part of Telemark Museum. He is especially known for his Ibsen biography, ''Familien Ibsen'' (2017), and is one of t ...

, ''Familien Ibsen'', Museumsforlaget, 2017

Personal life

He was married to Sophie Lintrup, daughter of the Danish-born doctor Christian Lintrup. Among their sons were the doctor Ole Paus (1830–1897), Major Johan Altenborg Paus (1833–1894), the textile merchant in Manchester Christopher Paus (1843–1919) and the railroad engineer Tollef Lintrup Paus (f. 1843). Two of his daughters, Sofie Henriette Paus (1832–1862) and Nina Paus (1839–1866), both successively married shipowner and estate owner in Skien Hans Hoell, while his daughter Louise Paus (1835–1908) married the mayor of

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

Christian Hulbert Hielm. He was the grandfather of Christopher Tostrup Paus, who was heir to the timber company Tostrup & Mathiesen and who was conferred the title of count by Pope Pius XI, as well as to British diplomat

Christopher Lintrup Paus Christopher "Kiff" Lintrup Paus (; 6 November 1881 in – 28 May 1963) was a British diplomat, who served at the British Embassy in Oslo for several decades, as commercial counsellor and as the British consul in Oslo and head of the British ...

and road engineer Hans Wangensten Paus. He was the great-grandfather of Ambassador Thorleif Lintrup Paus. Henrik Johan Paus is interred at Lie cemetery. In the television series ''An Immortal Man'' from 2006, he was portrayed by Eindride Eidsvold.Eindride Eidsvold
, ''

Store norske leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' ( no, Store Norske Leksikon, abbreviated ''SNL''), is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian published sites, with more than two million unique vis ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paus, Henrik Johan 19th-century Norwegian lawyers Henrik Ibsen Paus family 1799 births 1893 deaths People from Skien