Henry Nikolai Karlsen was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

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He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Finnmark

Finnmark

or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...

 during the terms 1950–1953, 1958–1961 and 1961–1965.

Born in Nord-Varanger

Nord-Varanger

Nord-Varanger is a former municipality in Finnmark county in Norway. It is located in the present-day municipality of Vadsø on the southern half of the Varanger Peninsula along the Varangerfjord.-Name:...

, Karlsen was mayor of Nord-Varanger municipality from 1945 to 1963. When the municipality was incorporated into Vadsø

Vadsø

is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality and the county of Finnmark....

, Karlsen was mayor of that municipality from 1963 to 1972. A member of the county committee in Finnmark from 1951, he became the first county mayor in 1963, and served until his death in 1975.

Outside of politics, he worked as a local bureaucrat from 1953 to 1968, and as a fisher and farmer.