John Chandler Bancroft DAVIS
Biography

DAVIS, JOHN CHANDLER BANCROFT, diplomatist, b. in Worcester, MA, 29 Dec 1822, was graduated at Harvard in 1840, studied law, and began practice. On 31 Aug 1849, when Mr. Bancroft left the English court, he succeeded John R. Brodhead as secretary of legation, and acted as charge d'affaires during the absence of the minister Abbott Lawrence, for several months in that and the two succeeding years. He resigned on 30 Nov 1852, was American correspondent of the London "Times" from 1854 till 1861, and during that time practiced law in New York city. In 1868 he was elected to the New York legislature, and on 25 March 1869, appointed assistant secretary of state, which post he resigned in 1871 to act ass agent of the US government before the Geneva court of arbitration on the Alabama claims. On 24 Jan 1873, he was reappointed assistant secretary of state. While in the department of state he acted as arbitrator in a dispute between Great Britain and Portugal. In 1871 he was a member, and the secretary, of the high commission that concluded the treaty of Washington. He resigned his place on receiving the appointment of mniister to the German empire. After his return from Berlin, in 1877, he was made a judge of the US court of claims in Washington DC, and served from Jan 1878 till Dec 1881. In Nov 1882, he was again appointed to the same post, and on 5 Nov 1883, became reporter of the US supreme court. He has published "The Massachusetts Justice" (Worcester 1847); "The Case of the United Stataes laid before the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva" (Washington 1871); "Treaties of the United States, with Notes" (revised ed. 1873); and vols 108-118 of "United States Reports."

Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600 - 1889, vol II

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