Valborg Lerche

Valborg Lerche (16 April 1873 – 7 March 1931) was a Norwegian social worker. She was the first female theologian in Norway.

Biography She was born in Sem as a ship-owner Vincent Stoltenberg Lerche, Sr. (1809–1894) and Christine Marie Rosenvinge (1839–1926), and a much younger half-sister of Vincent Stoltenberg Lerche. She also had four older sisters.

She took her examen artium at Gjertsen School in 1892. Two years later the whole family moved after her to Kristiania, enrolling in theology studies at the Royal Frederick University. She graduated with the cand.theol. degree in 1899, as the first Norwegian woman to do so. The profession as clergyman was not available for women at the time, but Lerche as active in Christian organizational work. In 1897 she co-founded the Women Students' Christian Organization, Lerche was chosen as the first chair.