Morten Wilhelm Wilhelmsen, known as Wilh. Wilhelmsen (12 July 1839 – 16 November 1910), was a Norwegian shipping magnate. Wilhelm Wilhelmsen was born at

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered t ...

, Norway. He was apprenticed with Fritz Heinrich Frølich (1807–1877) who was the founder of Christiania Bank and Kreditkasse. His commercial education continued at business firms in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1861, he founded a brokerage business in Tønsberg. His own career as a shipowner began with the purchase of the bark ''Mathilde'' in 1865. The shipping company,

Wilh. Wilhelmsen Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA (WWH) is a Norwegian multinational maritime industry, maritime group, headquartered in Lysaker, Norway. The group employs more than 21,000 people and has operations in 75 nations. The Wilhelmsen group operates the la ...

which resulted would eventually become Norway's largest shipping company. By 1886, he had established himself as

's largest shipowner. He was also Mayor of Tønsberg in 1894 and French

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

. He received the Order of St. Olav (Knight First Class) and the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. He was married to Catharine Lorentzen (1843–1919). They were the parents of shipowner

Halfdan Wilhelmsen Halfdan Wilhelmsen (March 11, 1864 – November 18, 1923) was a Norwegians, Norwegian shipowner and consul. Wilhelmsen was born in Tønsberg, the son of the shipowner Wilhelm Wilhelmsen (1839–1910), Wilhelm Wilhelmsen and his wife Catharina Fr ...

(1864–1923), factory owner Finn Wilhelmsen (1867–1951), shipowner Wilhelm Wilhelmsen (1872–1955), and businessman Axel Wilhelmsen (1881–1957).

References

Related Literature

The history of Wilh. Wilhelmsen
* Oscar A. Johnsen: ''Tønsberg historie'', bind 3, 1952–1954 * ''Den Kongelige norske Sankt Olavs orden 1847–1947'', Grøndahl & Søns Forlag, Oslo, 1947 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelmsen, Wilhelm 1839 births 1910 deaths People from Tønsberg Mayors of places in Vestfold Norwegian businesspeople in shipping

Wilhelm Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

Norwegian company founders Recipients of the Legion of Honour