Thomas Birch

Thomas Birch
Born	(1705-11-23)23 November 1705
Died	9 January 1766(1766-01-09) (aged 60)
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Historian and Keeper of books at British Museum.
Known for	Fellow of the Royal Society

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Thomas Birch (23 November 1705 – 9 January 1766) was an English historian.

Life

He was the son of Joseph Birch, a coffee-mill maker, and was born at Clerkenwell.^[1]

He preferred study to business but, as his parents were

He was noted as a keen fisherman during the course of his lifetime, and devised an unusual method of disguising his intentions. Dressed as a tree, he stood by the side of a stream in an outfit designed to make his arms seem like branches and the rod and line a spray of blossom. Any movement, he argued, would be taken by a fish to be the consequences of a mild breeze.^[citation needed]

In 1735 he became a member of the

Birch was prolific, even if Horace Walpole questioned his "parts, taste and judgment." He corresponded with prominent men of his time.^[1][2] Samuel Johnson wrote: "Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties". Boswell observed "That the literature of this country is much indebted to Birch’s activity and diligence must certainly be acknowledged. We have seen that Johnson honoured him with a Greek Epigram; and his correspondence with him, during many years, proves that he had no mean opinion of him."

Birch often collaborated with the greatly successful London bookseller, Andrew Millar, who helped publish some of Birch's most highly profitable publications. These included The Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, co-written by Reverend Henry Miles (in 5 volumes folio, 1744), and A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton (in 2 volumes folio, 1738, followed in 2 volumes quarto, 1753).

Birch wrote most of the English lives in the General Dictionary, Historical and Critical, 10 vols. (London, 1734–1741), assisted in the composition of the Athenian Letters (London, 1741–43), edited the State Papers of John Thurloe (London, 1742) and the State Papers of W. Murdin (London, 1759).^[1] He also wrote:

• Inquiry into the share which
  Earl of Glamorgan for bringing over a body of Irish rebels (published by Millar in London, 1756);^[3]
• Historical view of Negotiations between the Courts of England, France and Brussels 1592-1617 (London, 1749);
• Life of Archbishop Tillotson (London, 1753);
• History of the Royal Society of London (London, 1756–1757);
• Life of Henry, Prince of Wales (London, 1760), and other works.
• The heads of illustrious persons of Great Britain, in 108 copper plates, engraved by
  Mr. Houbraken and Mr. Vertue
  , with their lives and characters, by Thomas Birch, D.D. Secretary of the Royal Society, London, 1761

Among the papers left at his death were some which were published in 1848 as the Court and Times of James I and the Court and Times of Charles I.[1]

Copies of Franklin letters

Recently discovered by American researcher Alan Houston at the

• Birch, Thomas (1754). Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth from the Year 1581 till her Death. In which the secret intrigues of her Court, And the conduct of her favourite, Robert Earl of Essex, both at Home and Aboard are particularly illustrated. Vol. I.
• Birch, Thomas (1754). Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth from the Year 1581 till her Death. In which the secret intrigues of her Court, And the conduct of her favourite, Robert Earl of Essex, both at Home and Aboard are particularly illustrated. Vol. II. Retrieved 27 August 2008. at Google Books.^[5]

Notes