Bernard Pares

Born in 1867, he was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, and went on to become one of the key British interpreters of Russian history and politics. After early teaching work, he joined the University of Liverpool and founded its School of Russian Studies, helping establish the subject as a serious field in British academic life.

His connection to Russia was not only scholarly. He traveled there widely, wrote on Russian history and public affairs, and during the First World War and the revolutionary era became known in Britain as a well-informed commentator on Russian events. He later served as the first director of the School of Slavonic Studies in London, further shaping the study of Russia and Eastern Europe for future generations.

Alongside his academic work, he wrote books for general readers, aiming to explain a complex country in a clear and accessible way. He died in 1949, remembered as a builder of Russian studies in Britain and as a historian who tried to connect careful research with real public understanding.