Paul Steenstrup Koht

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Paul Steenstrup Koht
Member of Parliament
for Skien
In office
1889–1891
In office
1892–1894
Personal details
Born(1844-08-28)28 August 1844
Bodø, Norway
Died26 August 1892(1892-08-26) (aged 47)
Skien, Norway
Political partyLiberal Party
SpouseBetty Giæver
ChildrenFour, amongst them Halvdan Koht
ProfessionEducator, Politician

Paul Steenstrup Koht (28 August 1844 – 26 August 1892) was a Norwegian educator and politician for the

Liberal Party. He was the father of Halvdan Koht, historian and Labour Party
politician.

Having developed a penchant for Greek and Roman poetry in his student years, Koht lectured in philology as an adult. He also taught living languages, most notably Norwegian.

Despite the conservative political views of his family, Koht became fascinated by the radical

common suffrage and the eight-hour day
.

Early life and educational career

He was born at

Ole Furu and Hans Brecke—recited Ancient Greek and Latin poems.[1]

In the year following his graduation, Koht started his tuition at Norwegian schools. Inspired by the classical languages of his

formative years, he taught Ancient Greek and Classical Latin in addition to Standard Norwegian—he taught those languages for the remainder of his tutorial career. He began at Gjersten School, before moving to Tromsø
, where he taught at the school of his childhood. He was appointed preceptor of that school in 1871.

In 1885, Koht moved with his family to

German-speaking Europe. On his return to Skien, Koht continued his tuition at the secondary school; amongst his students was his son Halvdan Koht,[2] who, two years before the elder Koht's decease in 1892, took his examen artium there, continuing with philological studies in Kristiania.[3]

Political career

Coming from a disciplined family of a conservative culture, Koht fell under the spell of the neoteric national liberal ideology, developing a weltanschauung radical for his time. He was the founding editor of Tromsøposten, which was established in 1872. After only one year, Koht left the paper, disenchanted with its publishing of an article that he felt violated the principles of the newspaper. He entered the board of a local labour association in 1874, and, three years later, was elected into the city council. In 1883 he was voted Mayor of Tromsø; he acted in that position for two years, concurrently with his tuition at the city's secondary school.[1]

Upon his move to Skien he further pursued his career within politics, being elected mayor of the city in 1886.

Norwegian Parliament from the constituency of Skien.[4] In the parliament, Koht vigorously advocated the universal suffrage, having threatened to abjure the local Liberal Party league from the central party lest the common suffrage be excluded from the party programme.[1] As a member of the Standing Committee on Business and Industry, he dealt with other liberal reforms of the time, amongst them the working time reform, the Factory Supervision Act of 1892 (Norwegian: Fabrikktilsynsloven) and an intergovernmental arbitration reform—Koht's positions on these issues were considerably more radical than those of the other committeepeople.[1]

Personal life

In 1871 he married Betty Giæver (1845–1936), a merchant's daughter whose great-grandfather was the civil servant Jens Holmboe.[1] They were the parents of four children, the most famous of whom was historian Halvdan Koht.[5] He was the grandfather of Åse Gruda Skard (1905–85) and Paul Koht (1913–2002).[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Nissen, B. A. (1936). "Koht, Paul Steenstrup". In Brøgger, A. W.; Jansen, E. (eds.). Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Vol. 7 (1st ed.). Oslo: Aschehoug. pp. 530–531.
  2. OCLC 15006430
    .
  3. ^ a b Svendsen, Åsmund (2002). "Halvdan Koht". In Helle, Knut (ed.). Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  4. ^ "Paul Steestrup [sic] Koht" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD). Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  5. ISBN 8257401692
    .
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