Carsten Tank

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Carsten Tank (1814)

Carsten Tank (born April 23, 1766 in Fredrikshald (today Halden ), † January 28, 1832 in Fredrikshald) was a Norwegian businessman and politician.

Life

His parents were the merchant and stamp paper administrator Nils Carstensen Tank (1725–1801) and his wife Sophie Cathrine Leuch (1740–1778). His first marriage around 1794 was Bertha Sophie Leth (January 19, 1777– February 18, 1795), daughter of the mayor, calibration officer and goods inspector Christian Leth (1740–1803) and his wife Maria Margaretha Ziegler (1752–1820); his second marriage was on August 19, 1796, with Cathrine von Cappelen (July 21, 1772– June 26, 1837), daughter of the merchant Diderik von Cappelen (1734–1794) and his wife Petronelle Juel (1737–1785).

Economic rise

Tank grew up in a wealthy merchant family in Fredrikshald and took over the company Tank & Co., which was founded by his grandfather. Through the family of his paternal grandmother, he was related to influential people with good connections to Christiania . He received a commercial apprenticeship and his business areas were wholesale, shipping and timber trading. He became a very wealthy man in the years leading up to the 1807 crisis. He owned more than 100 estates. In 1823 he bought the Sanne manor in Tune (now part of Sarpsborg ) with Soli, Norway's largest sawmill at the time. He ran some of his farms as model estates, from where the knowledge of agriculture was spread to the surrounding area. He also ran a sugar refinery and a tobacco factory. In 1811 he donated 10,000 Rigsdaler to the newly established Norwegian University in Christiania. The war, inflation, the great fire in Fredrikshald, the decline in the timber trade, and bankruptcies at home and abroad brought him economic hardship. His business partners also canceled their loans. In 1829 he went bankrupt and had to apply for the state council pension, which the king also granted him.

Political activity

Due to his good trade relations with Sweden, he was an early supporter of the Union of Norway with Sweden. In 1790 he met on a secret mission with the king of Sweden Gustav III. sent General Gustav Mauritz Armfelt together in Värmland , where a Norwegian uprising against Denmark was being discussed. Prince Christian Frederik visited him in 1813 and they became friends. In 1813 he took part in a meeting in Christiania which dealt with the establishment of a Norwegian discount and credit bank. On January 27, 1814, he took part in the meeting of influential men from Christiania with Prince Christian Frederik and on February 16 in the notables meeting in Eidsvoll. From March 2, 1814, he was a member of the government council and on May 19 became a state councilor. In June and July 1814 he witnessed the negotiations with the emissaries of the great powers who rejected Norway's independence and demanded compliance with the Kiel Peace of January 14, 1814. One of them described him as hostile to Denmark and a supporter of the Swedish-Norwegian union. Shortly after the delegations left, when the war could no longer be averted, Tank left the government. Tank traveled to Sweden to negotiate with the Crown Prince and prepare the Peace of Moss. On his return he presented the Norwegian government with the draft of a peace treaty and union relations. He had disregarded the guidelines of King Christian Frederik, and doubts arose about his political stance, because from Tanks' point of view the union with Sweden was an advantageous solution. He represented Fredrikshald and Fredrikstad in the Storting assemblies from 1815 to 1816 and from 1821 to 1822. In 1821 he became President of the Storting. In the first session he was particularly concerned with the Norwegian monetary and banking system, and he is believed to have had the greatest impact on the outcome.

Looks too

literature

Individual evidence

The article is essentially based on the Norsk biografisk leksikon . Other information is shown separately.

  1. ^ Carsten Tank . In: Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen, Palle Raunkjær (ed.): Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon . 2nd Edition. tape  23 : T – Tysk frisindede part . JH Schultz Forlag, Copenhagen 1927, p. 80 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
  2. ^ A b Yngvar Nielsen: Tank, Carsten . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 17 : Svend Tveskjæg – Tøxen . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1903, p. 85 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
personal data
SURNAME Tank, Carsten
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tank, Carsten Nielsen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian businessman and politician, member of the Storting
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1766
PLACE OF BIRTH Heaps
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1832
Place of death Heaps