James David Bourchier
James David Bourchier (18 December 1850 at Baggotstown, near Bruff in County Limerick – 30 December 1920 in Sofia, Bulgaria) was an Irish journalist and political activist.[1][2] He lived in Sofia from 1892 to 1915. Bourchier was an honourable member of the Sofia Journalists' Society. He acted as an intermediary between the Balkan states in the beginning and at the conclusion of the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913.[3]
Life
Bourchier was born in Limerick and studied at
In his writings he criticised certain clauses of the
.Bourchier also expressed his strong support for Bulgaria during the
With his numerous publications in the British press, and in his private and social correspondence, Bourchier repeatedly voiced his sympathy towards Bulgaria and its people. According to The Times: "He was a private man, nervous, haunted by growing deafness, probably homosexual, but he became the close confidant of kings and ambassadors in their labyrinthine intrigues."[6] After his death in December 1920, James Bourchier was buried near the Rila Monastery in southwestern Bulgaria. He remains the only foreigner ever allowed to be buried at one of the greatest monasteries in Bulgaria, on behalf of a grateful Bulgarian nation.
Honours
Bourchier Peak on Rila Mountain, James Bourchier Boulevard and James Bourchier Metro Station in Sofia,James Bourchier Boulevard in Blagoevgrad and Bourchier Cove on Smith Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica are named after James David Bourchier.[7]
In 1990 the recently established Bulgarian Society for British Studies devoted its first national conference to the 140th anniversary of Bourchier’s birth, in Limerick, Ireland, and 70th anniversary of his death.
Today James Bourchier Boulevard is a busy street in Sofia with numerous administrative and office buildings on it. Its most notable landmark is probably the Hotel Marinela Sofia. The Faculty of Physics, the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, and the Faculty of Chemistry of Sofia University are also located there, as is the office of the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria and the headquarters of the Bulgarian Red Cross. There are also streets named after him in Varna and Blagoevgrad.
Notes
- ^ Quinn, James. "Bourchier, James David". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
- ^ The History of The Times: The Twentieth Century Test 1884–1912. Vol. III. New York: The Macmillan Company. 1947. pp. 713-733. Retrieved 16 June 2021 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. .
- ^ Rankin, Reginald (1914). "James David Bourchier". The Inner History of the Balkan War. London: Constable & Company Ltd. p. 1. Retrieved 16 June 2021 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ ROAD SCHOLARS – Features news at www.sofiaecho.com
- ^ James Pettifer, 'Bourchier Of The Balkans Honoured', The Times, 22 January 1996, p18
- ^ Bourchier Cove SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
External links
- James David Bourchier in 'Miscellaneous Limerick People' file at Limerick City Library, Ireland
- Foley, Michael (12 March 2019). "Our man in Bulgaria – An Irishman's Diary on James Bourchier". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
- Works by or about James David Bourchier at Internet Archive
Bibliography
- W. B. Stanford gives an account of James David Bourchier, b. Bruff, Co. Limerick, Ireland, who assisted the Greeks in the insurrection in Crete of 1896; bibl.
- Lady Grogan, Life of J. D. Bourchier (London 1926).
- Foley, Michael (2010). "From Bruff to the Balkans: James David Bourchier". In O'Connor, Maureen (ed.). Back to the Future of Irish Studies: Festschrift for Tadhg Foley. Oxford; Bern; Berlin; Bruxelles etc.: Peter Lang. ISBN 9783034301411– via Google Books.
- JSTOR 4201602.
- Giffin, Frederick C. (November 1964). "James David Bourchier". The Historian. 27 (1): 1–20. JSTOR 24438075.
- Quinn, James. "Bourchier, James David". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 14 June 2021.