Jens Kristian Meinich Bratlie (17 January 1856 – 15 September 1939) 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 ...

attorney and military officer. He served as an elected official representing 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 ...

. He was the 13th

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 ...

from 1912 to 1913.

Biography

Jens Bratlie was born at

Nordre Land Nordre 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 Dokka. Other villages in the municipality include Vest-Torpa, Nord-T ...

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 c ...

, Norway. Bratlie came from a family of leading businessmen and civil servant. He was the son of Erik Bratlie (1814-1890) and wife Bolette Sofie Meinich (1821-1870). Following the death of his mother, he was adopted by the industrialist Jørgen Meinich. Bratlie graduated from the Military High School in 1880 and was trained as an army officer (eventually rising to the level of Major General). He also earned a law degree allowing him to work as a high-ranking civil servant (1886). He served several years as expedition secretary in the Department of Defense. He became Captain (1893), General Commission Commissioner (1898) and General Attorney for the Armenian Judiciary from 1906. Bratlie held several offices such as leader of the Conservative Party (1910–11) and president of the Storting (1910–12). He was in the Storting representing Kristiania (now Oslo) 1900-12 and 1916–18. He served as Norwegian

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

and

Minister of Auditing The Norwegian Minister of Auditing was the head of the Norwegian Ministry of Auditing. The position existed from 1822 to 1918. List of Norwegian Ministers of Auditing ReferencesMinistry of Auditing. Councillor of State 1822 - 1918 {{Ministers of ...

from 1912 to 1913. In the 1927 Norwegian parliamentary election he was the fourth ballot candidate for the party National Legion, behind Karl Meyer, Frøis Frøisland and Thorvald Aadahl. In a press release, the National Legion (led by Meyer) stated that it had cherry picked "strong" personalities to combat the hardships in Norwegian politics. Frøisland denounced the ballot in an ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...

'' piece, stating that himself, Aadahl and Bratlie was unwilling and unaware of the nomination. He stated that a vote for the National Legion would be a

wasted vote In electoral systems, a wasted vote is any vote which is not for an elected candidate or, more broadly, a vote that does not help to elect a candidate. The narrower meaning includes ''lost votes'', being only those votes which are for a losing candi ...

in the struggle against the "communists". However, according to Norwegian election law the people who were listed on the ballot had no legal grounds to avoid being nominated. He served as chairman of the Conservative Party from 1911 to 1919. Following his death in 1939, his interment was 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bratlie, Jens 1856 births 1939 deaths People from Nordre Land University of Oslo alumni Fatherland League (Norway) Norwegian Army generals 20th-century Norwegian lawyers Presidents of the Storting Members of the Storting Prime Ministers of Norway Leaders of the Conservative Party (Norway) 20th-century Norwegian politicians Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour Defence ministers of Norway

Biography

See also

References