BRYCE JAMES 1838-1922 VISCOUNT BRYCE MP

Letter to Harold Laski (1893-1950), welcoming his return from the USA and proposing meeting, 29th September 1920.

James Bryce, Viscount Bryce 1838-1922

Bryce was educated at Glasgow High School, Belfast Academy, Glasgow University, and Trinity College, Oxford. He was President of Oxford Union, and a fellow of Oriel College, 1862-1889. He was called to the bar (Lincoln's Inn, which he entered, 1862) in 1867. Bryce joined the northern circuit, and practised until 1882. He was assistant commissioner reported on schools of Lancashire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Monmouthshire, and eight Welsh counties for the Schools Inquiry Commission, 1865-1866. Bryce also assisted in the development of university education at Manchester, where he lectured on law, 1868-1874. From 1870 to 1893 he was Regius Professor of civil law at Oxford. Bryce was Liberal MP, Tower Hamlets division, 1880-5; for South Aberdeen, 1885-1906. He was President of the Board of Trade, 1894, and chairman of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education, 1894-1895, which laid foundations of new administrative structure of secondary schools. From 1905-1906 he was Chief Secretary for Ireland. Bryce was also ambassador at Washington, 1907-1913. He devoted the remainder of his life to forwarding project of League of Nations. He was chairman of a conference on the reform of the House of Lords, 1918.

His publications include:

• The American commonwealth (1888)
• The ancient Roman Empire and the British Empire in India, the diffusion of Roman and English law throughout the world: two historical studies (1914)
• The attitude of Great Britain in the present war(1916)
• Canada: an actual democracy(1921)
• Constitutions (1905)
• The hindrances to good citizenship(1909)
• The Holy Roman Empire(1864)
• Impressions of South Africa(1897)
• Memories of travel(1923)
• Social institutions of the United States(1891)
• Studies in history and jurisprudence(1901)
• The study of American history(1921)

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