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.^[2] He died on 16 May 1955.^[1]

In 1898, he was hired as the state attorney in Troms and Finnmark. In 1904, he was hired as a law professor at the University of Kristiania. In 1905, he was the secretary of the Norwegian delegates to the Karlstad negotiations that led to the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden.^[2][1]

In 1906, Urbye was appointed as the County Governor of Finnmark county . He resigned in 1912. He was a judge in Eiker, Modum, and Sigdal in 1912 and 1913. In 1913, he was appointed as the Minister of Labour.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[2][1]

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.^[2][1]