Björn Jónsson

Björn Jónsson ( born October 8, 1846 † November 24, 1912 ) was an Icelandic politician of the Old Independence Party ( Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn ( Eldri ) ) and Prime Minister of Iceland.

Biography

Björn Jónsson earned his university entrance qualification ( Stúdentspróf ) 1869 on Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík, Iceland 's oldest high school, and was active in the port to 1871 as a merchant in Flatey ( Breiðafjörður ). This was followed from 1871 to 1874 to study law at the University of Copenhagen. On September 19, 1874, the first edition of the newspaper " isafold ", whose editor he was until 1909 appeared. This activity made ​​him the nation's so well known that he was generally called only Björn í isafold or Ísafoldar Björn. 1900 came out the " Íslenzk stafsetningarorðabók " by Björn Jónsson, the widely propagated the spelling of Blaðamannafélags in the country and in the next 20 years saw four editions.

In addition to his journalistic work he began in 1878 his political career, which meant that he was from 1878 to 1880 Member of Althingi for the Old Independence Party ( Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn ( Eldri ) ). Between 1885 and 1891 he was a member of the City Council of Reykjavík, as well as 1908 to his death again member of the Althing ( Alþingismaður ).

After the heavy defeat by Hannes Hafstein and its supporters in the Althingwahlen from 1908, where voters also rejected the draft of a new constitution, he was due to its electoral success on March 31, 1909, his successor. Than Prime Minister of Iceland ( Ráðherrar Íslands ) Unlike Hafstein he took over Denmark, the zubilligte Iceland within its monarchy in 1904 a self-government, clearly the Icelandic interests. Back in 1909 there was a scandal when he appointed a Government Council for Trade with Bjarni Jónsson, who should represent the economic interests of Iceland. The Danish Government described this appointment as incompatible with the common foreign policy of Denmark and Iceland. As prime minister, he also submitted a bill to Prohibition, which was also adopted by the Althing. On March 14, 1911, he was forced to resign after less than two years in office, after which he the Director General of the National Bank Tryggvi Gunnarsson forced to resign, despite considerable criticism of his partisans. Successor as Prime Minister then was the non-party deputies Kristján Jónsson.

Björn Jónsson was the father of Sveinn Björnsson, the only governor ( Regent ) and at the same time from 1944 to 1952 the first President of Iceland.

Sources and background literature

• Homepage of the Althing
• Rulers.org