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 ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

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

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) 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 ...

and Alten, and also a cathecet in

Harstad ( se, Hárstták) is the second-most populated municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is mostly located on the large island of Hinnøya. The municipal center is the Harstad (town), town of Harstad, the most populous town in Centra ...

. He was briefly subeditor of the newspaper ''

Finmarken ''Finnmarken'' is a local newspaper published in Vadsø, Norway. It covers eastern Finnmark. It was established in 1899 by Adam Egede-Nissen and others. In 1942 ''Finnmarken'' was taken over by the national socialist occupant regime. They incorp ...

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

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

, where he moved with his family around 1900. While living in Narvik he edited the Labour newspaper ''

Fremover ''Fremover'' is a regional newspaper published in Narvik, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Sca ...

'' and was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) 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 bas ...

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 ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical Regions of Norway, region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainlan ...

. 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 Norway, Norwegian Posten Norge, postmaster and politician, began his political career in the Liberal Party of Norway, Liberal Party and was first elected to the Storting (parliam ...

won election on the Liberal Party 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 county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. The county was established in 1804 when the old Trondhjems amt was divided into two: Nordre Trondhjems amt and S ...

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

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