Thomas Konow
Norwegian politician and admiral (1796-1881)
Thomas Konow (10 October 1796 – 10 October 1881) was a Norwegian naval officer and politician. He was a member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814.
Background
He was born in Bergen, Norway as a son of merchant Friedrich Ludwig Konow (1746–1798) and his wife Anna Hedvig Rieck (1756–1810). His father and uncle had migrated from Germany to Norway; the surname stemming from the village, Konau. Thomas Konow was a brother of the merchant-politicians Wollert Konow and August Konow. In March 1827 he married Catharina Magdalene Reichborn (1807–1844).
Career
Starting in 1805 as a cadet in the Danish-Norwegian navy, he was promoted to Junior Lieutenant in 1813 and served on the brig Lolland in Norwegian waters. On 6 May 1814 his name was removed from the list of Danish Naval Officers as he had transferred his allegiance to Norway after these two countries separated after the Treaty of Kiel. Lolland became a Norwegian vessel at the same time. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly at Eidsvold in 1814 as a representative of Vestfold.
“Thomas Konow” enters the record as norwegian politician and admiral (1796-1881). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thomas, Konow and Norwegian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Thomas Konow” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Thomas, Konow and Norwegian provides the most credible route into that argument.
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 Feb 26, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3365931. VIAF identifies the subject as 230639477. The Library of Congress control number is nb2014028652. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1796, 1881, 1814 and 1746.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Thomas Konow”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Thomas Konow primary sources, Thomas Konow archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thomas Konow”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Konow” 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.