Ole Gabriel Gabrielsen Ueland

Ole Gabriel Ueland

Ole Gabriel Ueland (28 October 1799 – 9 January 1870) was a Norwegian political leader and member of the Norwegian Parliament. Historians credit him with having popularized politics in Norway, paving the way for individuals of underprivileged backgrounds to rise to positions of political importance.

Ueland was born into a peasant family on the farm of Skaaland, in the parish of Lund, in the landscape of Dalane, on the southwest coast of Norway. The next oldest of four. Although his formal education had been limited to random local lessons, he had proven an unusual aptitude for learning and a voracious appetite for reading. When he was 17, he was asked to teach the children in the area. By 1827, he had by way of marriage acquired the farm Ueland, and was installed as the sexton in the local church in Heskestad in the municipality of Lund.

He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1833, representing the rural constituency of Stavanger Amt (today named Rogaland). He remained a parliament member until 1869, having been re-elected thirteen times.^[1] He became the leader for the peasant and farmer's movement in politics and earned respect for his deliberate and wise political outlook.

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote of him:

Though he is a farmer behind his plough

and a sailor in his boat

he thought as well as anyone

in all the King's council

When he met in parliament

to promote the cause of farmers

every word gave birth to a ray

in the people's young day.^[2]

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