Bryce, James (1838-1922), was a British historian and statesman. He is most famous for his book The American Commonwealth (1888), which has long been regarded as one of the finest studies of American political and social institutions. Many of Bryce’s descriptions are based on observations he made during trips to the United States. Bryce wrote many other books, including The Holy Roman Empire (1864), Studies in Contemporary Biography (1903), and Modern Democracies (1921).
Bryce was born on May 10, 1838, in Belfast, Ireland (now Northern Ireland). He graduated from Trinity College of Oxford University in 1862 and became a lawyer. Bryce became regius professor of civil law at Oxford in 1870.
Bryce was elected to the British Parliament in 1880 and served as a member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons until December 1906. From 1907 to 1913, he served as British ambassador to the United States. In 1914, he became Viscount Bryce of Dechmont and a member of the British House of Lords. That same year, he was appointed British representative to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international court at The Hague in the Netherlands. Bryce died on Jan. 22, 1922.
