Andreas Tostrup Urbye

Andreas Tostrup Urbye (8 May 1869–16 May 1955) was a Norwegian civil servant, lawyer, and politician. He served as a county governor and also as a Minister in the Norwegian Cabinet from 1913-1917. He was also the secretary at the Karlstad negotiations that led to the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden.

Personal life and education Andreas Tostrup Urbye was born on 8 May 1869 in Fredrikshald, Norway. His parents were Gabriel Joachim Urbye and Elisabeth Sofie Eeg. He graduated from school in 1891 with a cand.jur. degree. Later, he studied abroad during the 1890s. In 1901, he married Anna Robertson who was from Hammerfest. He received his Dr.juris degree in criminal law in 1909. On 26 July 1916, the Prime Minister of Norway, Gunnar Knudsen, shuffled his Cabinet and moved Urbye to the post of Minister of Justice, a job he held for one year. He proposed a bill to restrict the freedom of the press in 1917, but it was voted down in the Odelsting, so he resigned his position and left the government. Shortly thereafter, was briefly the Stiftamtsmann of Oslo in 1917.

In 1918, he began working in the field of diplomacy. From 1918-1922, he was the government's envoy to Helsinki. From 1922-1924, he was the envoy to Tallinn and Riga. From 1924-1939, he was the government's envoy to Moscow. From 1939 until 1949, he was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.