Hannibal Fegth

Hannibal Fegth‘s father of the same name died about nine months before his birth. When he lived in his grandparents’ place in Holmsby at the Drammensfjord he started to take an interest in rowing. During his studies in England (1901-03) he started competing. At the Norwegian championships he took seven golds, one in the single sculls, two with the inriggers fours, three with the outriggers fours, and one with the eights. At the 1908 and 1912 Olympics, he rowed in the eights and in 1912 additionally in the inriggers fours without advancing to the second round in any of these events.

Fegth was the chairman of the Christiania Roklub for more than three decades (1908-39). He financed the trip of the club’s crew to Henley in 1921 when they won the Thames Cup in the eights event. The construction of clubhouse “Kongen” at the Oslo Fjord was only possible due to his contributions. Fegth was also a member of the board of the Norwegian Rowing Association (1910-14) and president of the Nordic Rowing Association. He received several sporting awards for his activities including the “Medal for Rowing in Excellent Style” in 1905.

After completing his training as a merchant, he founded the company Hannibal Fegth and Co. As the linoleum wholesaler he was a member of the board of the Oslo Chamber of Commerce. From 1931-37, Fegth was a member of Oslo’s municipal council.

Feght was awarded the King’s Gold Medal of Merit and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Knight of the Danish Dannebrog Order and the Swedish Wasa-Order.

He married Margit Petrine Sundberg in 1909. After her early death he took Eva Fredrikke Ida Falkenberg as his second wife in 1932.