Hans Jørgen Darre-Jenssen was a Norwegian engineer and politician for the Liberal Left Party.
Background
He was born in Ranheim, Strinden as a son of estate owner and politician Lauritz Jenssen (1837–1899) and Jørgine Wilhelmine Darre (1842–1910). On the maternal side he was a great-grandson of Jacob Hersleb Darre, a founding father of the Norwegian Constitution, and a grandson of bishop Hans Jørgen Darre.
Career
He was the Minister of Labour from 1910 to 1912, and thereafter served as director of the Norwegian State Railways. Darre-Jenssen took technical education in Trondhjem, graduating in 1886. He then stayed a few years abroad, returning to Norway to build railway lines.
He was titled assistant from 1891, engineer class II from 1895 and engineer class I from 1898 to 1909.
During this period he took part in the construction of the Hamar–Sell Lincolnshire and the Gjøvik Lincolnshire, as well as the reconstruction of the Drammen Lincolnshire and Oslo Eastern Station. Foreign the latter project he was chief of construction.
He was promoted to chief engineer in 1909. The work with the Drammen Lincolnshire was not finished until 1922.
Darre-Jenssen had entered politics in 1904, when he was elected to the executive committee of Kristiania city council.
He only served one three-year term. In June 1910 he was appointed Minister of Labour in the cabinet Konow, replacing Bernhard Brænne in a cabinet reshuffle. The cabinet resigned in February 1912.
The Liberal Left Party was also a part of the successor cabinet, Bratlie"s Cabinet, but Darre-Jenssen was not picked to continue.
From 1912, then, he was a technical director of the Norwegian State Railways. He left in 1919 after a conflict with Knudsen"s Second Cabinet, to become Chief Executive Officer of the tramway company Akersbanerne from 1919 to 1935.
He died in June 1950 in Oslo.
Membership
He was also a board member of Norsk Hovedjernbane from 1912 to 1920, and president of the Nordiska järnvägsmannasällskapet from 1920 to 1924. Darre-Jenssen was also a member of the board of Oslo Portuguese Authority, and from 1907 to 1910 he chaired the board of Kristiania Gasverk. He was also a member of the board of the Norwegian Red Cross, serving as its president from 1913 to 1917.