 He was the son of Johan Jørgen Lange (1754-1814) and Dorothea Helena Larsen (1771-1824).He was the younger brother of politicians Hans Nicolai Lange and Otto Vincent Lange, brother-in-law of Nils Landmark and Even Hanssen and uncle of Johan Jørgen Lange Hanssen.He was a student at Oslo Cathedral School (1826) and graduated with a degree in theology (1832).