Carsten Anker
Norwegian merchant, civil servant and politician (1747-1824)
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.
Early years
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 to 1772 he was an envoy from several of the major Norwegian trading companies in Stockholm 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.
Civil service career
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.
The public source identifies “Carsten Anker” as norwegian merchant, civil servant and politician (1747-1824). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Carsten, Anker and Norwegian.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1045511. VIAF identifies the subject as 30653326. The Library of Congress control number is n2005065978. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1747, 1824, 1709 and 1785.
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This entry incorporates text from “Carsten Anker” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.