Ole Eliassøn Gjerdrum (22 April 1785 – 29 January 1858) was a Norwegian jurist, civil servant and businessperson.

Career

He was born in

Stange is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Hedemarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stangebye ...

. He was a clerk for the district stipendiary magistrate until 1811. He then worked in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and studied law, but when Norway achieved independence in 1814 he returned to his country of birth. After some time in the Ministry of Finance, where he advanced to assistant secretary in 1817, he was transferred to law enforcement. He tried to become burgomaster, but instead served as Chief of Police of Christiania from 1823 to 1831. In 1829, the so-called "

Battle of the Square The Battle of the Square (Norwegian: ''Torvslaget'', Swedish: ''Torgslaget'') was a skirmish between Norwegian demonstrators and military forces of the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway that took place in Oslo (then called ''Christiania''), No ...

" took place. Demonstrators were celebrating the

Constitution of Norway 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 ...

, which had been outlawed by King Charles John of Sweden and Norway, and the police under Gjerdrum's command intervented, causing a civic outrage. Gjerdrum was awarded the Knighthood of the Order of Vasa for his service. From 1831 to his death he was the stipendiary magistrate of ''Aker og Follo''. In 1845 he founded Nydalens Compagnie together with Adam Hiorth, Hans Gulbranson and Oluf N. Roll. He was a board member from 1845 to 1858. Nydalens Compagnie developed into the largest textile company in Norway from the 1890s.

Personal life

Together with Mette Alette Christine Krohn he had five sons and five daughters. The son Otto Gjerdrum was also involved in Nydalens Compagnie, and another son,

Carl Ferdinand Gjerdrum Carl Ferdinand Gjerdrum (21 August 1821 – 3 August 1902) was a Norwegian jurist, businessperson and royal chamberlain. He was a son of Ole Gjerdrum and Mette Alette Christine Krohn. He was the brother of Jørgen and Otto Gjerdrum. He was the ...

, founded an insurance company. The son Jørgen Gjerdrum was a jurist, and married Lina Lange, a daughter of dean Alexander Lange and sister of

Jacob Otto Lange Jacob Otto Lange (12 November 1833 – 26 May 1902) was a Norwegian politician. He was born in Stavanger, Norway. He worked for the Kongsberg Silver Mines and served as mayor of Kongsberg 1875–1876. He was a member of the Norwegian Parliament ...

. The daughter Alette Jørgine Constanse Gjerdrum (1833-1891), married her own cousin, dean Halfdan Einar Sommerfelt, and their daughter Giggi Sommerfelt married a son of Ole Gjerdrum's business partner Adam Hiorth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gjerdrum, Ole 1785 births 1858 deaths People from Stange Norwegian expatriates in Denmark Norwegian civil servants Norwegian police chiefs Norwegian company founders Knights of the Order of Vasa