Bancroft Davis | |
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9th Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States | |
In office 1883–1902 |
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Preceded by | William Tod Otto |
Succeeded by | Charles Henry Butler |
7th, 9th & 14th Assistant Secretary of State | |
In office March 25, 1869 – November 13, 1871 January 24, 1873 – January 30, 1874 December 19, 1881 – July 7, 1882 |
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Preceded by |
Frederick W. Seward Charles Hale Robert R. Hitt |
Succeeded by |
Charles Hale John Cadwalader John Davis |
13th Envoy from the United States to Germany | |
In office August 28, 1874 – September 26, 1877 |
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President |
Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes |
Preceded by | George Bancroft |
Succeeded by | Bayard Taylor |
Member of the New York State Assembly from the Orange County, 1st district |
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In office January 1, 1869 – March 26, 1869 |
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Preceded by | William C. H. Sherman |
Succeeded by | Odell S. Hathaway |
Personal details | |
Born |
John Chandler Bancroft Davis December 29, 1822 Worcester, Massachusetts, USA |
Died | December 27, 1907 Washington, DC, USA |
(aged 85)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Frederika Gore King (m. 1857; his death 1907) |
Relations | Horace Davis (brother) |
Parents | John Davis |
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Occupation | Author, lawyer, politician |
John Chandler Bancroft Davis (December 29, 1822 – December 27, 1907), commonly known as Bancroft Davis, was an American lawyer, judge, diplomat, and president of Newburgh and New York Railway Company.
Davis was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of John Davis, a Whig governor of Massachusetts, and was the older brother of congressman Horace Davis. He entered Harvard with the class of 1840 but was suspended in his senior year and did not graduate with his class. He eventually received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1847.
In 1849, Davis became secretary of the American embassy in London and later its chargé d'affaires. He practiced law in New York City and was the correspondent for The Times in London. Because of ill health, he retired from his law work in 1862. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Orange Co., 1st D.) in 1869, but vacated his seat on March 26 after his appointment as Assistant U.S. Secretary of State.
Under President Ulysses S. Grant, he was Assistant Secretary of State in 1869–1871 and again in 1873–1874. Between times he was a secretary of the commission which concluded the Treaty of Washington in 1871, to create a tribunal to settle the Alabama claims. He subsequently represented the United States at the tribunal, the Geneva Court of Arbitration, which met at Geneva on December 15, 1871. The American case was prepared and presented by him.