Urho Castrén
Finnish politician (1886-1965)
Urho Jonas Castrén (30 December 1886, in Jyväskylä – 8 March 1965, in Helsinki) was a judge, serving for 27 years as the President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland. During the constitutional crisis of 1944, Castrén, representing the National Coalition Party, became Prime Minister of Finland briefly.
Biography
Urho Jonas Castrén was born 30 December 1886, in Jyväskylä to Johannes Castrén and Amanda Ulrika Jussilainen. He attended the Lyceum of Jyväskylä, completing his classics studies in 1904 and earning a legal degree in 1907. He took his Master of Laws in 1910 and obtained a degree in rights in 1912. Between 1918 and 1927 he taught at the Agriculture and Forestry division and Political Science Department of the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki as a specialty teacher.
He joined the law firm of Jonas Castrén and worked as an assistant from 1913 to 1914. In 1914, he became a legal counselor and a member of the Helsinki City Court, where he remained until 1917 when he transferred to the Residential Tax Assessor's office. He served on the assessor's Board of Directors between 1917 and 1922. Castrén entered the judiciary in 1922 first serving as Saarijärven judicial district judge until 1926, then as Deputy Chancellor of Justice between 1926 and 1928; Chancellor of Justice from 1928 to 1929; and finally as President of the Supreme Administrative Court from 1929 to 1956.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Urho Castrén” as finnish politician (1886-1965). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as finnish politician (1886-1965). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
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 Apr 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1371055. VIAF identifies the subject as 8756151778240418130009. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1886, 1965, 1944 and 1904.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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 “Urho Castrén”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Urho Castrén primary sources, Urho Castrén archive and Urho 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 “Urho Castrén”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Urho Castrén” 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.