Son of Charles Frederick Amery (1833–1901), of Lustleigh, Devon, an officer in the Indian Forestry Commission and Elisabeth Johanna Saphir (1841–1908) from a Hungarian Jewish family. Born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. Educated at Harrow School (a contemporary of Winston Churchill) and Balliol College, Oxford. During the Second Anglo Boer War 1899-1902 he was a correspondent for TheTimes. In 1901, in his articles on the conduct of the war, he attacked the British commander, Sir Redvers Henry Buller, which contributed to Buller's sacking. Amery was the only correspondent to visit Boer forces and was nearly captured with Churchill. He later edited and largely wrote The Times History of the South African War. Elected an MP in 1911 for Birmingham South and held that seat until 1945. During the First World War, Amery's knowledge of Hungarian led to his employment as an Intelligence Officer in the Balkans campaign. Later, as a parliamentary under-secretary in Lloyd George's national government, he helped draft the Balfour Declaration, 1917. He was First Lord of the Admiralty (1922–1924) and Colonial Secretary in Baldwin's government from 1924 to 1929. In the 1930s, Amery, along with Churchill, was a bitter critic of the appeasement of Germany. During WW2 he was Secretary of State for India. He was a noted sportsman, especially famous as a mountaineer, climbing well into his sixties, and Mount Amery in Canada is named after him.

On 16 Nov 1910, Amery married Florence Greenwood (1885–1975), daughter of the Canadian barrister John Hamar Greenwood. They had two sons. John Amery (1912–1945) became a Nazi sympathizerand made propaganda broadcasts from Germany during WW2. He was hanged for treason. Julian Amery became a Conservative Party politician, serving in the cabinets of Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home as Minister for Aviation (1962–1964. He married Harold Macmillan's daughter, Catherine Macmillan.

He died in Westminster, London aged 81 years and his ashes were buried in St John's churchyard.