Background
He was born in 1847 as the son of Morten Lyng Lossius from Lade in Trondhjem, and was named after his maternal grandfather Knud H. Holtermann.
He was born in 1847 as the son of Morten Lyng Lossius from Lade in Trondhjem, and was named after his maternal grandfather Knud H. Holtermann.
He was a descendant of Lorentz Lossius, who migrated to Norway from Göttingen in the 17th century and became the first director of Røros Copper Works. He served as headmaster of Trondhjem Cathedral School, and served as praeses of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters from 1899 to 1902.