Jørg (Jørgen) Berge (3 September 1854 – 1916) was a Norwegian editor, temperance activist and politician for the Labour Party. He was born in

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

. He spent several years as a seaman, and studied and worked in Canada, Spain and several cities in France. He converted to Roman Catholicism while hospitalized in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Back in Norway he worked as a teacher at Catholic schools in

Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...

and Alten, and also a catechist in

Harstad Harstad may refer to: Places *Harstad (town) Harstad (; ) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Harstad Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is also the administrative centre of Harstad Municipality. The city has a populati ...

. He was briefly subeditor of the newspaper '' Finmarken'' in

Vadsø Vadsø or Vadso may refer to: Places * Vadsø Municipality, a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway *Vadsø (town) (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, tow ...

, and from 1907 lighthouse keeper in Vikten. However, he is best remembered for his time in

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

, where he moved with his family around 1900. While living in Narvik he edited the Labour newspaper '' Fremover'' and was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

as early as in the 1903 election, representing the urban constituency of ''Tromsø, Bodø og Narvik''. The Labour Party went from 0 to 4 seats after the 1903 election, all representatives of

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

. In addition to Berge, they were Meyer Foshaug, Alfred Eriksen and John Lind Johansen; also, the socialist

Adam Egede-Nissen Adam Hjalmar Egede-Nissen (29 June 1868 – 4 April 1953), was a Norwegian postmaster and politician, who began his political career in the Liberal Party and was first elected to the Storting (parliament) in 1900. He later switched to the L ...

won election on the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

ballot. Berge served only one term, as Narvik was deprived of having a candidate in ''Tromsø, Bodø og Narvik''. He stood for re-election in

Nord-Trøndelag Nord-Trøndelag (; "North Trøndelag") was a counties of Norway, county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Sør-Trøndelag ("South Trøndelag") county as well as the county of Nordl ...

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

and

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...

, but without succeeding.

References

1854 births 1916 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism Labour Party (Norway) politicians Members of the Storting Members of the Storting 1904–1906 Nordland politicians Norwegian expatriates in Canada Norwegian expatriates in France Norwegian expatriates in Spain Norwegian lighthouse keepers Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian Roman Catholics Norwegian temperance activists People from Narvik Politicians from Arendal Politicians from Nord-Trøndelag {{Norway-politician-1850s-stub