Otto Albert Blehr (17 February 1847 – 13 July 1927) 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 newspaper editor. He served as a politician representing the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. He was the 8th

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 1902 to 1903 during the

Union between Sweden and Norway Sweden and Norway or Sweden–Norway ( sv, Svensk-norska unionen; no, Den svensk-norske union(en)), officially the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and known as the United Kingdoms, was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Swede ...

and from 1921 to 1923 following the

Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden The dissolution of the union ( nb, unionsoppløsningen; nn, unionsoppløysinga; Landsmål: ''unionsuppløysingi''; sv, unionsupplösningen) between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden under the House of Bernadotte, was set in motion by a resolu ...

.''Otto Blehr'' (Government Administration Services)
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Biography

Blehr grew up at a farm at Stange in

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged int ...

, Norway. His parents were Albert Blehr (1805–1872) and Maren Wilhelmine Ludovica Kathinka Stenersen (1818–1877). His father was a doctor and physicist at Sanderud Hospital. He graduated in 1865 and then began studying the University of Christiania. Blehr graduated cand.jur. in 1871. He served as parliamentary reporter for the newspapers ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newspa ...

'' and ''

Bergens Tidende ''Bergens Tidende'' is Norway's fifth-largest newspaper, and the country's largest newspaper outside Oslo. ''Bergens Tidende'' is owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Norwegian owners held a mere 42% of the shares in Schibsted at the end ...

''. In 1874, he was one of the founders of the '' Fjordabladet'' where he served as the first editor-in-chief until 1882. In 1878, he also started and served as the first editor of the ''

Sogns Tidende ''Sogns Tidend'' was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Sogndal in Sogn og Fjordane county. It was named ''Sogns Tidende'' from 1878 to 1927. It started as ''Sogns Tidende'' in 1878 by Otto Blehr. Blehr was a Liberal Party (Norway), Liberal Party ...

''. Blehr was the governor of Nordre Bergenhus (1883–1888) and for Nordland (1895–1900). In 1877, he established himself as a prosecutor at Lærdal in Sogn. In 1879 Blehr was elected as first deputy representative to the Storting for Nordre Bergenhus amt (now Sogn og Fjordane) and from 1883 to 1888 he was a permanent representative. In the fall of 1888 he was not re-elected to the Storting. He became a prosecutor (''fogd'') in Sunnfjord and

Nordfjord Nordfjord ( en, Northern fjord—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district of Norway. Geography The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises the muni ...

. In 1889 a lawyer in

Hålogaland Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the medieval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a kingdom extending between the Namdalen valley in Trøndelag county and the Lyngen fjord ...

. He held this assignment until he became a judge (''lagmann'') at Kristiania in 1893. In 1894 Blehr was again elected to the Storting, now for Nordland. Blehr was re-elected as parliamentary deputy for Nordland in 1898. On 21 April 1902, he took over as Prime Minister of the Norwegian government in Kristiania. In October 1903, Blehr resigned as a result of an election defeat. In 1905 he was appointed as County Governor (''stiftsamtmann'') at Christiania (now Oslo), an office he held until 1921. On 21 June 1921, Otto Blehr became Prime Minister and at the same time also chief of the Ministry of Finance. He was also a member of the Norwegian delegation to the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

1920 and 1922–1925. On 3 March 1923 the government resigned.

Personal life

He married women's rights activist

Randi Blehr Randi Marie Blehr (née Nilsen; 12 February 1851 – 13 June 1928) was a Norwegian feminist, liberal politician, suffragist, peace activist and women's rights activist. She was married to Prime Minister of Norway Otto Blehr, and was therefore ...

(1851–1928) in 1876. Both were co-founders of the

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights ( no, italic=no, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's and girls' rights organization and works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights thr ...

, where his wife later became President. Otto Blehr was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav in 1898. He was also the auditor of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1903 to his death in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

during 1927. He was the father of

Eivind Blehr Eivind Stenersen Blehr (20 January 1881, in Lærdal – 27 July 1957) was a Norwegian minister in the NS government of Vidkun Quisling, from 1942 to 1944. In the Norwegian post-war legal purges he was convicted of treason and sentenced to 20 yea ...

, a minister in the

Quisling regime The Quisling regime or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 19 ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blehr, Otto 1847 births 1927 deaths People from Stange University of Oslo alumni Norwegian jurists Norwegian newspaper people Norwegian newspaper editors County governors of Norway Government ministers of Norway Liberal Party (Norway) politicians Ministers of Finance of Norway Prime Ministers of Norway Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people Ministers of Justice of Norway Ministers of Trade and Shipping of Norway