Personal life

He was born in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

 as a son of Carl Joachim Hambro (1813–1873) and Angelique Cathrine Bull (1813–1899). Edvard Isak Hambro had six sisters and one older brother. His paternal grandfather was a Danish Jew who had migrated to Norway in 1810. He was a maternal grandson of Georg Jacob Bull

Georg Jacob Bull

Georg Jacob Bull was a Norwegian jurist and politician.He was a stipendiary magistrate of Bergen from 1810 to 1821. While stationed here, he was elected to the Norwegian Parliament for the year 1821...

, brother-in-law of Nils A. Dahl, first cousin of Edvard Isak Hambro Bull and the judge Edward Isak Hambro

Edward Isak Hambro

-Personal life:He was born in Christiania as a son of Christian Fredrik Hambro and Stine Bødtker. On the maternal side he was a nephew of B. A. Bødtker. On the paternal side he was a first cousin of Edvard Isak Hambro Bull and the educator Edvard Isak Hambro, and a first cousin once removed of the...

, and a first cousin once removed of the British banker Charles Joachim Hambro

Carl Joachim Hambro (banker)

Baron Carl Joachim Hambro was the founder of Hambros Bank, one of the United Kingdom's largest investment banks.-Personal life:He was born in Copenhagen as a son of Joseph Hambro . The family lineage can be traced to Rendsburg, Schleswig-Holstein in the 1720s...

.

In May 1880 in Bergen he married Nicoline Christine (Nico) Harbitz (1861–1926). They had the children Carl Joachim (C. J.) Hambro and Elise Hambro, and through C. J. Hambro they had the grandchildren Edvard Hambro

Edvard Hambro

Edvard Isak Hambro was a Norwegian politician. He was the 25th President of the United Nations General Assembly and also served on the UN's International Law Commission from 1972 to 1977.- Biography :...

, Carl Joachim Hambro

Carl Joachim Hambro (philologist)

Carl Joachim Hambro was a Norwegian philologist, essayist, novelist and translator.He was born in Oslo as a son of Carl Joachim Hambro. He took the cand.philol. degree in 1939, was a lecturer in Norwegian at Sorbonne from 1946 to 1949, and at the same time Paris correspondent for the Norwegian...

 and Johan Hambro

Johan Hambro

Johan Randulf Bull Hambro was a Norwegian journalist, translator and biographer. He was the fourth son of Norwegian politician C. J. Hambro, whose biography he wrote in 1984. He lived in the United States from 1939 to 1982, where he studied and worked as a foreign-affairs journalist, press attaché...

.

Career

He finished his secondary education in 1863, and first studied theology, then philology. He spent one year at the University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

, but graduated from the Royal Frederick University

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

 in 1869 with the cand.mag.

Cand.mag.

Candidatus magisterii , Candidata magisterii , i.e. Latin Candidate of Arts, abbreviated cand.mag., is an academic degree used in Denmark, and formerly in Norway and Iceland, roughly corresponding to an American Master of Arts and officially translated as such...

 degree. He then studied Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 and Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 as a research fellow

Research fellow

The title of research fellow is used to denote a research position at a university or similar institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a principal investigator...

 in Germany, but stopped his scholarly career and instead became a language teacher (Greek, Latin, German) in the school system. He worked at Tanks School from 1871 to 1878, then founded his own school which he directed until his death. He was a modern educator in several respects; he introduced 45 minute lessons, more physical education

Physical education

Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....

 and sloyd

Sloyd

Sloyd , also known as Educational Sloyd, was a system of handicraft-based education started by Uno Cygnaeus in Finland in 1865...

, and education for girls.

He contributed to the founding of Den Nationale Scene

Den Nationale Scene

Den Nationale Scene is the largest theatre in Bergen, Norway. Den Nationale Scene is also one of the oldest permanent theatre in Norway.-History:...

 in 1876 and Bergens Aftenblad

Bergens Aftenblad

Bergens Aftenblad was a Norwegian daily newspaper, published in Bergen, Norway from 1880 to 1942. It supported the Conservative Party.The paper was started in 1880, and absorbed the long-running Bergens Adressecontoirs Efterretninger in 1889....

in 1880. He was affiliated with the Conservative Party for some time, but later cut his connections to the party; he served in Bergen city council from 1902 to 1904, elected from an "a-political ballot list".