Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Bourchier, James David
BOURCHIER, JAMES DAVID (1850-1920), correspondent of The Times in the Balkan Peninsula, was born at Baggotstown, Bruff, co. Limerick, 18 December 1850, the fourth son of John Bourchier, of Baggotstown, a property which had descended from father to son since 1651; his mother was Sarah Aher, of La Rive, Castlecomer, co. Kilkenny. Bourchier was an exhibitioner at Trinity College, Dublin, and took his degree there (1873), with a gold medal for classics. He subsequently won a scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge, and was placed seventh in the first class of the classical tripos (1876). In 1888, after ten years as a master at Eton, where his deafness proved a handicap, Bourchier went to Roumania and Bulgaria on a mission for The Times, definitely joining its staff in 1892. For fifteen years he made his headquarters at Athens, afterwards at Sofia. Active in mind and body, a linguist and a musician, and, in spite of his deafness, excellent company, Bourchier knew every one of note in the Balkans and was behind the scenes of Balkan politics for a generation. He wrote excellently on archaeology and travel, as well as on politics. His sympathy with patriots and with the oppressed, together with his honesty of purpose, fearlessness, and power of identifying himself with a cause, won for him a unique place in the Balkan Peninsula. He often served as intermediary between the Cretan insurgents and the Greek authorities, and he acted unofficially as confidential adviser to Prince George of Greece when, in 1898, the latter became high commissioner of Crete. When the Bulgarian peasants in Macedonia rose against the Turks in 1903, Bourchier brought their sufferings and the justice of their cause before the public with great insistence and ability. In 1911-1912 he was entrusted by King George of Greece and M. Venizelos on one side, and by King Ferdinand of Bulgaria and M. Gueshov on the other, with many of the secret negotiations preceding the Balkan alliance. Bourchier regarded this alliance as the only remedy for Balkan troubles. Much as he deplored the part played by Bulgaria in the second Balkan War and in the European War, he did not withdraw his sympathy from the Bulgars, whose national character he warmly admired.
In 1915 Bourchier went to Roumania and later to Odessa and Petrograd, reaching England early in 1918. He then retired from The Times, and devoted himself to the forlorn attempt to secure what seemed to him a just and final settlement in the Balkans. He died at Sofia 30 December 1920, and was buried with high honours at Rilo monastery. He was unmarried.
[Bourchier’s diaries and papers; his contributions to The Times, 1888-1920, and to the Quarterly, Fortnightly, and other Reviews; his articles on Balkan subjects in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th edition); Lady Grogan, Life of J. D. Bourchier, 1924; private information; personal knowledge.]