At the time, legal historians were comparatively rare. Even more rare was his dissertation topic, which focused on the untouched subject of equity jurisdiction and procedure of the court of the exchequer. Since most historians did not know technical law and most lawyers had little interest in the history, Bryson breached new scholarly ground. His dissertation was quickly printed in book form, and his ability to synthesize the practical and academic components of law propelled his career as a prolific scholar and public intellectual.

For Bryson, the formula simply makes sense. "History is the foundation of most knowledge, and it adds a dimension to anything," he says. "It is the major explanation for current legal positions, technical positions, political positions, and social positions. Even today I don´t understand a point of law unless I know where it came from."

Bryson strives to achieve a similar balance with teaching and scholarship. While his intellectual interests initially motivated him to become a professor, his love of teaching has kept him there throughout the last three decades. "The scholarship is empty unless you pass it on," he says, noting the influence of Drs. Holbrook, Crawley, and Thompson on his understanding of what a professor should be like. "They were tremendously scholarly people who were dedicated to teaching," he says. "I missed that at Harvard."

A double major in economics and French, Bryson recalls significant classes and experiences with each of these professors, but perhaps none more than his independent research project on French linguistics, which was supervised by romance language professor William Holbrook and which stemmed from an etymology class with classics professor Graves Thompson. "That´s typical of liberal arts," he says. "It all fits together."

That project marked the initial tugs of a force that would soon pull him fully into the world of academia. Immediately after graduation he went to Grenoble, France, where he studied economics on a Fulbright grant. After finishing degrees at Harvard and the University of Virginia, he matriculated at Christ´s College at Cambridge University in 1969, was named the William Senior Scholar at Clare College the following year, and earned the distinguished York Prize upon the completion of his doctorate in 1972. He then took a yearlong post-doctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt-am-Main before returning to his hometown to be a professor at the University of Richmond´s T.C. Williams School of Law.

Hamilton Bryson ´63 in his office at the University of Richmond´s T.C. Williams School of Law.

Hired to teach British legal history, Bryson was immediately surprised to find that no one in the country seemed to be working in the field of Virginia legal history. "There is so much of that, and the sources are close at hand," he says, "so I´ve been dabbling in Virginia legal history." And while you won´t hear it from Bryson, whose humble personality and accessible demeanor defies his intellectual stature, this "dabbling" has resulted in dozens of influential publications and classes and has established him as a leading figure in the field.

Not surprisingly, Bryson also excelled at Hampden-Sydney. In addition to focusing on academics, he was vice president of Chi Phi, president of the Glee Club, editor of the literary magazine, president of Union-Philanthropic Literary Society, and a member of nearly half a dozen honorary societies. And despite his numerous professional demands and responsibilities, he has maintained his high level of involvement with the College throughout the years. He has been a member of the board of the Friends of the Eggleston Library and secretary for the housing corporation of the Epsilon chapter of Chi Phi. He is also a recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Alumni Award and has just cycled off the advisory board of the Atkinson Museum at Hampden-Sydney, of which he served as chairman for several years.

He also maintains a more implicit connection to the College through the numerous Hampden-Sydney alumni who have attended law school at the University of Richmond. Hampden-Sydney graduates do consistently well at law school, not only because of their curricular training but also because of the work ethic that comes from going to a small school with interested teachers. "At Hampden-Sydney you can´t run away from education. There´s no hiding."

Bryson averages about three new alumni a year. And as long as Hampden-Sydney continues its educational traditions, he says, he expects this trend to continue every year until he retires. And thanks to the age discrimination act, he notes jokingly, that won´t happen anytime soon.