The County Governor of Vestfold (Norwegian: Fylkesmann i Vestfold) was the county governor for Vestfold county in Norway from 1821 until the office was abolished in 2019. The office of county governor is a government agency of the Kingdom of Norway which represents the national government in each county. The county governor is an appointed position. On 1 January 2019, this office was merged with the County Governor of Telemark into the County Governor of Vestfold og Telemark (this was done in preparation for the merger of the two counties in 2020).[1]
The governor is the government's representative in the county. They carry out the resolutions and guidelines of the Storting and government. This is done first by the county governor performing administrative tasks on behalf of the ministries. Secondly, the county governor also monitors the activities of the municipalities and is the appeal body for many types of municipal decisions.[1]
The word for county (amt or fylke) and the name of the county have both changed over time. Therefore the title of the officeholder has also changed.[1]
From 1821 until 1877, the title for each officeholder was Amtmann i Jarlsberg og Laurvigs amt.
From 1877 until 31 December 1918, the title for each officeholder was Amtmann i Jarlsberg og Larvik amt.
From 1 January 1919 to 1 January 2019, the title for each officeholder was Fylkesmann i Vestfold.
List of officeholders
Vestfold county has had the following governors:[2][4][5]
Oscar Fredrik Torp (1893–1958) (He spent most of this time in Parliament and as Prime Minister of Norway. Gerhard Dahl served as acting governor during most of Torp's term.)