Heftye finished his secondary education in 1878, and took a military education in the following years. From 1880 he worked in the family company Thos. Joh. Heftye & Søn, but in 1885 he returned to the military, enrolling at the Norwegian Military Academy. In 1892 he took education as a telegrapher, and started working in the Norwegian Army engineer department instead of in the infantry. He also became involved in local politics in his native Aker municipality. He belonged to the Liberal Party, and was regarded as being on their radical wing.[1]
Heftye served one term in Kristiania city council, from 1907 to 1910. On 19 March 1908, when the Knudsen's First Cabinet assumed office, he was appointed for his second term as Minister of Defence. He resigned already on 10 April the same year,[4] because Prime MinisterGunnar Knudsen refused to seek a vote of confidence in Parliament, a form of investiture.[1] This was a problematic question at that time, as Norway had made important steps towards parliamentarism, but not formalized the process with change of government.[6] Former Prime Minister Christian Michelsen had asked for a vote of confidence following the 1906 general election, and survived. When he retired from politics in 1907 due to illness, Jørgen Løvland took over, but his cabinet was toppled in 1908. Earlier the same year, the Liberal Party had evicted 24 legislators who supported Christian Michelsen and the endeavors of the Coalition Party (later leading to the creation of the Liberal Left Party), and hence, when Knudsen took over, he had no way of achieving a parliamentary majority. In that situation he could not expect to survive a vote of confidence.[7] On the other hand, Knudsen and his cabinet resigned following the 1909 general election, which the Liberal Party lost. Such an action is not required by law, but if not carried through, the cabinet would most likely face a vote of no confidence.[6]
Despite the disagreement in 1908, Heftye and Knudsen were not estranged. Knudsen would later sit as Prime Minister from 1913 to 1920, and he used Heftye as an arbitrator in both the national wages board and in irregular labour conflicts. Previously, during his time as telegraph director, Heftye had started the institution of non-legal wiretapping—a method which was later used in labour conflicts. He was also an international arbitrator from 1919 to 1920 when he sat on the Slesvig Commission, preparing the partition into Northern and Southern Slesvig in 1920.[1]
The Dovre Railway Line was officially opened in September 1921. On 19 September 1921, tragedy struck as two trains collided right outside the Nidareid tunnel in Trondhjem. Heftye was killed together with architect Erik Glosimodt and several others.[1]
Awards and legacy
Heftye was decorated with as a Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1903. He was upgraded to Commander, First Class in 1912 and received the Grand Cross in 1915. He was also a Commander of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog, a Knight of the French Légion d'honneur as well as other foreign orders of knighthood.[1]
^ ab"Thomas Thomassen Heftye" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD). Retrieved 8 April 2009.
^Bratberg, Terje (2007). "Telenor ASA". In Henriksen, Petter (ed.). Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
^ abNordby, Trond (2004). I politikkens sentrum. Variasjoner i Stortingets makt 1814–2004 (in Norwegian) (2nd ed.). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. p. 96. ISBN82-15-00651-5.
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