Thomas Konow (10 October 1796 – 10 October 1881) was a
Norwegian naval officer and politician. He was a member of the
Norwegian Constituent Assembly
The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised th ...
at
Eidsvoll in 1814.
Background
He was born in
Bergen, Norway as a son of merchant Friedrich Ludwig Konow (1746–1798) and his wife Anna Hedvig Rieck (1756–1810).
His father and uncle had migrated from Germany to Norway; the surname stemming from the village,
Konau. Thomas Konow was a brother of the merchant-politicians
Wollert Konow and
August Konow.
In March 1827 he married Catharina Magdalene Reichborn (1807–1844).
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Career
Starting in 1805 as a cadet in the Danish-Norwegian navy, he was promoted to Junior Lieutenant in 1813 and served on the brig ''Lolland
Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabitant ...
'' in Norwegian waters. On 6 May 1814 his name was removed from the list of Danish Naval Officers as he had transferred his allegiance to Norway after these two countries separated after the Treaty of Kiel. ''Lolland'' became a Norwegian vessel at the same time. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly at Eidsvold in 1814 as a representative of Vestfold. He supported the position of the Independence Party (''Selvstendighetspartiet''). The youngest member of the Assembly, at his death he was the last surviving member.
In the Norwegian navy, he was promoted to Senior Lieutenant (6 October 1821), and through the various ranks of Captain to Rear Admiral and Chief of the Navy (11 July 1860). He served as a temporary councillor of state ''in interim'' in 1861. He retired 10 October 1869.
References
Other sources
*T. A. Topsøe-Jensen, Emil Marquard (1935) ''Officerer i den dansk-norske Søetat 1660-1814 og den danske Søetat 1814-1932''
1796 births
1881 deaths
Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy personnel
Norwegian military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
Royal Norwegian Navy admirals
Politicians from Bergen
Government ministers of Norway
Fathers of the Constitution of Norway
Thomas
Order of the Dannebrog
Knights of the Order of the Sword
Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour
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