[1] 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.

In 1908, Berge was appointed County Governor of Jarlsberg og Larvik amt, a position he held until 1924.

[2] Berge started his political career in Lista in the present-day municipality of Farsund, where he was in 1882 elected mayor.

The charge was withholding information relating to the government rescue of a bank threatened by bankruptcy.