Ove Gjerløw Meyer (c. 1742 – 4 November 1790) was a Norwegian jurist and government official, best known for founding the

Norwegian Society The Norwegian Society (''Norske Selskab'') was a literary society for Norwegian students in Copenhagen active from 1772 to 1813. Its members included authors, poets and philosophers. The Norwegian Society was formed in 1772 by Ove Gjerløw Meye ...

Career

He was born around 1742, probably in Frederikshald (now Halden in

Østfold Østfold () is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other ...

, Norway). His father was headmaster and priest Edvard Offesen Meyer (1713–1760); his mother is not known. Meyer attended Christiania Cathedral School between 1759 and 1762 together with Norwegian folk poets

Johan Herman Wessel Johan Herman Wessel (6 October 1742 – 29 December 1785) was an 18th-century Danish-Norwegian poet, satirist and playwright. His written work was characterized by the use of parody and satiric wit. Biography Wessel was born and raised at Ve ...

and Johan Vibe. He then enrolled at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

and took both the

cand.jur. Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

and

cand.theol. Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

degrees. After this he worked as a writer and private tutor in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. During the "de facto regency" of royal physician

Johann Friedrich Struensee Count, Lensgreve Johann Friedrich Struensee (5 August 1737 – 28 April 1772) was a German-Danish physician, philosopher and statesman. He became royal physician to the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark and a minister in the Danish gov ...

(between 1770 and 1772), royal censorship was lifted and Meyer marked himself as a Norwegian patriot. He is recognized as the founder of the

(''Det Norske Selskab''), a literary society for Norwegians in the city. The first meeting of the society took place on 30 April 1772. Among Meyer's primary concerns was that Norway did not have a university of its own. Like many members of the Norwegian Society, Meyer also wrote poems, but these have not stood the test of time, according to professor and literary historian Harald Noreng. In 1778, he returned to Norway to become

stipendiary magistrate Stipendiary magistrates were magistrates that were paid for their work (they received a stipend). They existed in the judiciaries of the United Kingdom and those of several former British territories, where they sat in the lowest-level criminal ...

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

and

Holmestrand is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality. It is located along the shore of the Ytre Oslofjord, about northwest of the Horten ...

. In December 1779, he married Susanne Fredrikke Hansen (1761–1785), daughter of a merchant in

. From his seat in Tønsberg, Meyer wrote the publication ''Noget om Kjøbstaden Tønsbergs Forfatning'' in 1788. He wrote of the city's long history as well as its contemporary situation, and proposed the establishment of a Norwegian university in Tønsberg—however, this was first printed in 1822, eleven years after the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

was established in Christiania. Meyer would not live to see this happen; in 1790 he was promoted to presiding judge of Tønsberg and

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

, and to assessor of the court trial in Christiania in the same year. He had barely assumed the latter position before he died in November 1790. He was buried in Tønsberg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Ove Gjerloew 1740s births 1790 deaths People from Halden People from Tønsberg University of Copenhagen alumni Norwegian expatriates in Denmark Norwegian jurists Norwegian civil servants 18th-century Norwegian poets Norwegian male poets 18th-century male writers