Bernard Pares was born in England. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge University, where he developed a strong interest in Russian history. He first visited Russia in 1898 at about the same time as he was appointed a university extension lecturer in Cambridge. In 1902 he became a lecturer at Liverpool University. Five years later he founded the School of Russian Studies there. During this period he was a regular visitor to Russia, and his personal acquaintance with government officials as well as many of the foremost Russian liberals informed his subsequent book, Russia and Reform, (1907). In 1908 he was promoted to a chair at Liverpool, which he held until 1917. When the First World War began, he was appointed British Military Observer to the Russian Army. Following the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, he moved to Siberia to support Kolchak's army. In 1919 he was knighted for his services to British relations with Russia, but he was banned by the new communist government from re-entering Russia. Also in 1919, he became Professor of Russian Language, Literature, and History and also Director of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at King's College London, University of London. He continued to write and research Russian history and literature, publishing most notably his History of Russia (1926 and subsequent editions). In 1939, he retired as Director to act as an adviser to the wartime government on Russian affairs. He moved to New York in 1942 where, shortly after completing his autobiography, he died.