Carsten Anker

Carsten Tank Anker (17 November 1747 – 13 March 1824) was a Norwegian businessman, civil servant, politician and one of the Fathers of the Constitution of Norway. He was the owner of the manor house in Akershus at which the original National Assembly (Riksforsamlingen) of Norway was held. The manor house has since then been given the name Eidsvollsbygningen.

Born in Frederikshald, he was the son of the trader Erik Ancher (1709–1785) and cousin of Bernt Anker. In 1759 Carsten left on a journey abroad that was to last for several years, together with his brother Peter and four cousins from Christiania. From 1771–72 he was an envoy from several of the major Norwegian trading companies in to negotiate better conditions for the timber trade on the river Klarälven, without much success. While in Sweden, however, there arose suspicion that he was also working with a secret, political agenda, and when Gustav III conducted his coup d'état, Anker was asked by the government in Copenhagen to return.

He then started his career as a civil servant. On 10 May 1774 he was appointed secretary in the General-Landøkonomi- og Kommercekollegiet (College of General Rural Economy and Commerce), in 1776 he was made justisråd, in 1781 third deputy of the Bjærgværksdirektoiret (Mining Directory) and in 1784 second deputy. He was given the, mostly honorary, titles of etatsråd and konferensråd in 1779 and 1784 respectively, and on 14 January 1779 he was also made a member of the nobility. When Bjærgværksdirektoiret was dissolved by royal resolution on 28 January 1791, Anker was given a pension, but kept a position as first director of the so-called Realisations-Kommission (Realisation Committee). This position entailed among other things special responsibility for the government’s Norwegian glassmaking companies. In 1792 he was made first director of det dansk-asiatiske Kompagni (the Danish-Asian Company), a position he kept until 1811. He also acquired considerable property in Norway by buying the historic Eidsvoll Ironworks (Eidsvoll Verk). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1804.

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