Claes Adelsköld


Claes Adolf Adelsköld was a Swedish civil engineer, railway engineer, author, Army officer and member of the upper house of the Parliament of Sweden

Background

Adelsköld was born at Nolhaga in Alingsås Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden.
He was as a member of the noble Adelsköld family. His brother Carl Gabriel Adelsköld was a noted painter.

Military and engineering

He studied at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, serving in the Swedish Army's Göta Artillery Regiment and became a lieutenant in 1844 in the Värmland jäger regiment; in 1849 he participated in the creation of the first Swedish railway open to civilian use. In 1852, he became a lieutenant in the newly organized Civil Engineering Corps, and continued to advance in the Corps until taking leave in 1875, when he was elected a member of the Riksdag.
With 26 years in railway and canal construction, in 1865 he had become an ombudsman for the Hjälmare kanal.

Political career

In 1875, he was elected a member of the upper house of the Riksdag, in which he served until 1893: at first for Västerbotten County and later for Blekinge County. He was a supporter of free trade and showed particular interest in defense issues.

Personal life

In 1867 he bought Steninge Palace in Sigtuna Municipality, where he led an extensive social life with people that included Prince Oscar. He sold the castle in 1873 and in 1876 repurchased the traditional family property in Alingsås Municipality, where he built a manor house known as Nolhaga slott.
In 1870 he was elected to the Swedish Academy of Sciences, of which he became chairman in 1891. He died in Stockholm and was buried at Stadskyrkogården in Alingsås. Adelsköldsgatan near the railway station in Alingsås was named in his honor.

Partial bibliography