Abraham Berge

Abraham Theodor Berge
Abraham Theodor Berge in 1912
15th Prime Minister of Norway
In office 30 May 1923 – 25 July 1924
Monarch	Haakon VII
Preceded by	Otto B. Halvorsen
Succeeded by	Johan Ludwig Mowinckel
Minister of Finance
In office 6 March 1923 – 25 July 1924
Prime Minister	Otto B. Halvorsen Himself
Preceded by	Otto Blehr
Succeeded by	Arnold Holmboe
In office 2 February 1910 – 20 February 1912
Prime Minister	Wollert Konow
Preceded by	Gunnar Knudsen
Succeeded by	Fredrik L. Konow
In office 7 November 1906 – 23 October 1907
Prime Minister	Christian Michelsen
Preceded by	Edvard H. Bull
Succeeded by	Magnus Halvorsen
Minister of Education and Church Affairs
In office 23 October 1907 – 19 March 1908
Prime Minister	Jørgen Løvland
Preceded by	Otto Jensen
Succeeded by	Karl Seip
Personal details
Born	Abraham Theodor Berge (1851-08-20)20 August 1851 Lyngdal, Norway
Died	10 July 1936(1936-07-10) (aged 84) Tønsberg, Norway
Political party	Free-minded Liberal
Other political affiliations	Liberal
Spouse	Anne Elisabeth Kylleberg
Profession	Teacher Farmer Statesman
Awards	Order of St. Olav

Abraham Theodor Berge (20 August 1851 – 10 July 1936) was the 15th prime minister of Norway from 1923 to 1924. He was a teacher and civil servant who represented the Liberal Party, the social liberal party, and later Free-minded Liberal Party, a right-of-centre party.

Biography

Berge was born at Lyngdal in Lister og Mandals amt (present-day Vest-Agder), Norway . He was the son of Johan Tobias Johnsen Berge (1813–1883) and Helene Andreasdatter Kvalsvig. He attended the teacher's course offered by Reinert Rødland in Lyngdal. In 1867, Berge became teacher at the Nordbygda skole in Vanse. He also served as sheriff in Vanse from 1904 to 1908. In 1908, Berge was appointed County Governor of Jarlsberg og Larvik amt, a position he held until 1924.

Berge started his political career in Lista in the present-day municipality of Farsund, where he was in 1882 elected mayor. From here he went on to the Norwegian Parliament in 1891. He served, in different periods, as both Minister of Culture and Church Affairs and Minister of Finance. Then, after a 10-year absence from politics, he became again Minister of Finance, and later also Prime Minister, when sitting Prime Minister Otto Bahr Halvorsen died. He resigned this post as the result of the defeat in a vote to lift prohibition.

In 1926 he became the only Norwegian prime minister to ever be impeached. The charge was withholding information relating to the government rescue of a bank threatened by bankruptcy. However, he was acquitted in 1927, along with the six ministers who stood trial alongside him.

Selected works

• Listerlandets kystværn og kaperfart 1807–14 (Tønsberg 1914) and Lista. En bygdebok (Tønsberg 1926). Both books reprinted 2006 by sokkhammer Forlag AS.