Per Aasness

Who was Per Aasness?

Per Aasness was a Norwegian military officer and politician for the Liberal Party.

He was born at Flaen in Hurdal as a son of farmer and forest owner Carelius Pedersen Aasness and Johanne Amalie Simensen. He took commercial school and then petty officer's school at Oscarsborg Fortress in 1896. He took over the family farm Søndre Åsnes in Åsnes in 1905, and in 1930 he was hired as district manager for Glommens Tømmermåling, with residence in Skarnes. He had previously been a supervisory council member of Glommens Tømmermåling from 1918 to 1923, and then board member. In the military he advanced in the ranks via sergeant in 1897, furer in 1902, commander sergeant in 1903, stykkjunker in 1912 and finally captain in the artillery from 1930 to 1935. He was a leader and from 1938 an honorary member of his local union, Oscarsborg Befalslag; and was the deputy chair of the nationwide union Norges Befalslag for two years.

He is listed as having had "almost all municipal posts" in Åsnes, and was a member of the municipal council from 1904 to 1922. He served the last three years as mayor. He fielded as the Liberal Party candidate in several parliamentary elections, the first time in 1915. He then lost to Labour's Ivar Hvamstad with 1,898 to 3,679 votes, although Aasness edged out the Conservative candidate R. Jahr who tallied 1,385 votes. In 1918, he ran against the former deputy of the now-deceased Hvamstad, Halvdan Aarsrud. Aarsrud prevailed with 3,952 votes against 1,637 for Aasness and 1,623 for Agrarian T. Gjølstad. By 1921, however, plural-member constituencies had been instituted and Aasness was nominated as the Liberal ballot's second candidate in Hedmark, only behind MP Johannes Johnsen Grue. Grue was elected, and Aasness served as his deputy. Aasness most significantly met in Parliament during 1923. In 1924 Grue was nominated for re-election, heading the ballot ahead of Thore Myrvang and Aasness, but the ballot did not prevail this time.