Background
He was born at Saltrø in Stokken as a son of Christen and Guro Knudsen, née Aadnesdatter.
politician member of the Parliament of Norway
He was born at Saltrø in Stokken as a son of Christen and Guro Knudsen, née Aadnesdatter.
He was also a shipbuilder and factory owner. One of Knudsen"s best known ships was the Skomvær, which was for a time the largest sailing ship in Norway. He was the mayor of Porsgrund municipality in 1893, and vice mayor in 1891, 1892, 1894 and 1895.
He was elected to the city council for the first time in 1877.
He was elected from the constituency Porsgrund in 1880, 1883, 1886, 1892, 1895, 1898 and 1904. In his last term he chaired the Standing Committee on Railways.
He also represented the city in the Parliament of Norway, where he advocated and defended the union with Sweden.
Foreign the first five terms he was a member of the Standing Committee on Justice, then the Standing Committee on the Army. He was a deputy member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from the beginning in 1897, to 1909. He was also a supervisory council member of the Bank of Norway.