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THOMAS BIRCH (1705-1766)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 958 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS See also:BIRCH (1705-1766)  , See also:English histo-rian, son of See also:Joseph See also:Birch, a See also:coffee-See also:mill maker, was See also:born at See also:Clerkenwell on the 23rd of See also:November 1705 . He preferred study to business, but as his parents were See also:Quakers he did not go to the university . Not-withstanding this circumstance, he was ordained See also:deacon in the See also:Church of See also:England in 1730 and See also:priest in 1731 . As a strong supporter of the Whigs, he gained the favour of See also:Philip See also:Yorke, afterwards See also:lord See also:chancellor and first See also:earl of See also:Hardwicke, and his subsequent preferments were largely due to this friendship . He held successively a number of benefices in different counties, and finally in See also:London . In 1735 he became a member of the Society of Antiquaries, and was elected a See also:fellow of the Royal Society, of which he was secretary from 1752 to 1765 . In 1728 he had married Hannah See also:Cox, who died in the following See also:year . Birch was killed on the 9th of See also:January 1766 by a fall from his See also:horse, and was buried in the church of St See also:Margaret Pattens, London, of which he was then See also:rector . He See also:left his books and See also:manuscripts to the See also:British Museum, and a sum of about 500 to increase the salaries of the three assistant librarians . Birch had an enormous capacity for See also:work and was engaged in a large number of See also:literary undertakings . In spite of their dulness many of his See also:works are of considerable value, although'See also:Horace See also:Walpole questioned his " parts, See also:taste and See also:judgment." He carried on an extensive See also:correspondence with some of the leading men of his See also:time, and many of his letters appear in Literary Anecdotes of the 18th See also:Century (London, 1812–1815) and Illustrations of the LiteraryHistoryof the 18th Century (London., 1817–1858) by J . See also:Nichols, in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, vol. iii .

(London, 1780–1790), and in See also:

Boswell's See also:Life of See also:Johnson . Birch wrote most of the English lives in the See also:General See also:Dictionary, See also:Historical and See also:Critical, so vols . (London, 1734–1741), assisted in the See also:composition of the Athenian Letters (London,181o), edited the See also:State Papers of See also:John See also:Thurloe (London, 1742) and the State Papers of W . Murdin (London, 1759) . He also wrote a Life of the Right See also:Honourable See also:Robert See also:Boyle (London, 1744) ; Inquiry into the See also:share which See also:King See also:Charles I. had in the transactions of the Earl of Glamorgan for bringing over a See also:body of Irish rebels (London, 1756); Historical view of Negotiations between the Courts of England, See also:France and See also:Brussels 1592–1619 (London, 1749); Life of See also:Arch-See also:bishop See also:Tillotson (London, 1753); See also:Memoirs of the Reign of See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth from 1581 (London, 1754); See also:History of the Royal Society of London (London, 1756–1757); Life of See also:Henry, See also:Prince of W See also:ales (London, 1760), and many other works . Among thepapers left at his See also:death were some which were published in 1848 as the See also:Court and Times of See also:James I. and the Court and Times of Charles I . See W . P . See also:Courtney in the Dictionary of See also:National See also:Biography, vol. v . (1886) ; A . See also:Kippis, Biographia Britannica (London, 1778–1793); Horace Walpole, Letters (London, 1891) .

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