James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce, was born on May 10, 1838, in Belfast, Ireland.

He was a British educator, jurist, historian, and Liberal politician. He was educated at the Belfast Academy, Glasgow High School, Glasgow University, the University of Heidelberg, and Trinity College, Oxford. He was elected a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, in 1862 and was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1867. He practised law in London for a few years but was soon called back to Oxford to become Regius Professor of Civil Law, a position he held from 1870 to 1893. From 1870 to 1875, he was also Professor of Jurisprudence at Owens College, Manchester. In 1872, Bryce, a proponent of higher education, particularly for women, joined the Central Committee of the National Union for Improving the Education of Women of All Classes. In 1880, he was elected to the House of Commons and remained a Member of Parliament until 1907. He served as Chairman of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1885), President of the Board of Trade (1894), and Chief Secretary for Ireland (1905). From 1907 until 1913, he held the position of British Ambassador to the United States and was very efficient in strengthening Anglo-American ties and friendship. In 1914, Bryce was raised to the peerage as Viscount Bryce of Dechmount in the County of Lanark, becoming a member of the House of Lords. Following the outbreak of the First World War, he strongly condemned the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. In 1915, he published The Bryce Report, in which he described German atrocities in Belgium. He served as a judge at the International Court in The Hague and supported the establishment of the League of Nations. He was the author of numerous books, e.g., "The Holy Roman Empire" (1864), "Transcaucasia and Ararat" (1877), "The American Commonwealth" (1888), "Impressions of South Africa" (1897), and “Modern Democracy” (1921).

In 1889, he married Elizabeth Marion Ashton (1854–1939). He died on January 22, 1922, in Sidmouth, Devon, England.