Nils Christian Irgens (10 October 1811 – 25 April 1878) was a Norwegian military officer and politician. He was born in

Sogndal Sogndal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansverk is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other villages i ...

as the son of

Lars Johannes Irgens Lars Johannes Irgens (9 October 1775 – 22 April 1830) was a Norwegian jurist and public official. He served as a representative at the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly. Lars Johannes Irgens was born in Hof in Solør, Hedmark, Norway. He was ...

, founding father of the

Norwegian Constitution nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

. Nils Christian Irgens became a military officer in 1830, and advanced in the ranks, becoming

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in 1861. In 1863 he became

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

. He held this post until 1868.Nils Christian Irgens
at NRK Sogn og Fjordane County Encyclopedia He chaired Centralforeningen for Udbredelse af Legemsøvelser og Vaabenbrug from 1864 to 1867. On 3 April 1868 Irgens was appointed

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), 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 coun ...

. He held this post until 1 February 1872, when he was appointed a member of the Council of State Division in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. On 27 May 1872Nils Christian Irgens
— Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) he left due to the '' statsrådssak''. Irgens was a member of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...

from 1865, and was a member of the board of

Hovedbanen In telecommunications, trunking is a technology for providing network access to multiple clients simultaneously by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies, instead of providing individual circuits or channels for each clie ...

References

1811 births 1878 deaths Government ministers of Norway Norwegian Army generals Members of the Swedish Academy 19th-century Norwegian politicians People from Sogndal Defence ministers of Norway {{Norway-politician-1810s-stub