[James David]. British publicist, who came of a good Irish family, born at Bruff, co. Limerick, on the 18th of December 1850. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and King’s College, Cambridge, and afterwards was for some years an assistant master at Eton. Subsequently joining the staff of The Times, in 1888 he went as special correspondent of The Times to Rumania and Bulgaria, and for nearly thirty years he was its principal representative in southeastern Europe. In this capacity he established a unique authority for information on Balkan affairs, and was in the confidence of the leading statesmen. He played an important part behind the scenes in the formation of the Balkan League (1911–2); and though from time to time his advice to one party or another proved unpalatable, his disinterestedness was always as unquestionable as his accurate knowledge of the political issues involved. In the later years before the World War his prepossessions were somewhat markedly on the side of Bulgaria, and even during the war his sympathies were with Bulgaria as a country. He died at Sofia, on the 30th of December 1920, and was given a public funeral there. Besides his contributions to The Times he was the author of many review articles, and also of the general articles, historical and descriptive, on the different Balkan States and Greece in the 11th Edition of this Encyclopædia. (See authored articles: Alexander, Nicholas, Jovan Ristić, Stefan Stambolov.)
