Jonathan Birch (EIC captain) explained

Jonathan Birch (1771/2–1848) was a ship captain for the British East India Company. He became a close friend of the actor William Charles Macready, whose diary is a major source for Birch's background and life.

Naval career

Birch was an East India Company ship captain, making a number of voyages; a report of 1837 gave his age as 65, the senior surviving captain.^[1] He captained the, lost off Brazil in 1805.^[2] He then captained its successor of the same name, Britannia.^[3] Birch's second command Britannia ended in a wrecking on the Goodwin Sands off the South Foreland on 24 January 1809, in company with the Admiral Gardner and the brig Apollo.^{[4] [5]} He then took the Cabalva on an 1813/4 voyage to Bombay and China.^[6]

On land

Birch in retirement from the sea resided in Gower Street, London, and at Pudlicote House, near Shorthampton in Oxfordshire, built in 1810, which he purchased in 1822.^{[7] [8]} Birch was on the committee of The Marine Society.^[9]

Relationship with Macready and family background

The Rev. Thomas Birch was rector of South Thoresby, which is not far to the west of Alford; he was a brother of the surgeon Charles Birch, maternal grandfather of William Charles Macready the actor.^[10] Jonathan Birch was his son.^[11] Birch was a therefore a relation of Macready on the latter's mother's side.^[12]

Macready while he was on tour in New York, and hearing of Jonathan Birch's death, called him "my dear friend and relative".^[13] His mother was Christina Ann Birch, granddaughter of the Rev. Jonathan Birch of Bakewell (1685–1735); his housemaster at Rugby School was a cousin (once removed) William Birch, son of the Rev. Thomas Birch of Alford, Lincolnshire, a son of Jonathan Birch of Bakewell.^{[14] [15]}

Death

Jonathan Birch died in 1848, at age 76, at Alford.^[16]

Family

Birch, described as of St Pancras, London, married Mary Elizabeth Morrice (died 1822), daughter of William Morice.^[16] They had a son, William John Birch, known as a writer. A brother and two sisters of William John died young.^[17] The eldest daughter, Elizabeth Mary Morice Birch, died in 1831 at age 23.^[18]

After Birch's death, his brother George brought a case on the interpretation of his will of 1845 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.^[19]

Notes and References

1. Book: Report from the select committee on East India maritime officers: Appendix and index . 1837 . 68 . en.
2. Book: Hardy . Charles . A Register of Ships, Employed in the Service of the Honorable the United East India Company, from the Year 1760 to 1810: With an Appendix, Containing a Variety of Particulars, and Useful Information Interesting to Those Concerned with East India Commerce . 1811 . Black, Parry, and Kingsbury . 249 . en.
3. Web site: Philip Mould, Historical Portraits . www.historicalportraits.com.
4. Book: Interesting Particulars of the Loss of the Admiral Gardner & Britannia ... and of the Apollo ... wrecked on the Goodwins, Jan. 24, 1809 ... Also the loss of the Russian ship St. Peter, etc . 1809 . Thomas Tegg . London . 7 . en.
5. Book: Cotton . Sir Evan . East Indiamen: The East India Company's Maritime Service . 1949 . Batchworth Press . 137 . en.
6. Web site: CABALVA . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . English.
7. Book: History, Gazetteer, and Directory of the County of Oxford . 1852 . R. Gardner . 838 . en.
8. Book: White . Edward Gillam . The register of electors to vote in the choice of ... members to serve in parliament for the county of Oxford. (Banbury division). . 1844 . 149 . en.
9. Book: Marine Society (London, England) . General State of the Marine Society ... to the 31st December, 1830 . 1831 . 22 . en.
10. Book: Macready . William Charles . Toynbee . William . The Diaries of William Charles Macready, 1833-1851 . 1912 . New York Putnam . 332 note 2. 2 .
11. Book: The Birch Family History: Descendants of Rev. Jonathan Birch, Vicar of Bakewell, Derbyshire, England and His Sons : Rev. John Neville Birch of Leasingham, Lincolnshire : Dr. Charles Birch of St. Kitts, British West Indies : Rev. Thomas Birch of Thoresby, Lincolnshire . 1998 . Genealogy Pub. Service . 323 . en.
12. Book: Macready . William Charles . Toynbee . William . The Diaries of William Charles Macready, 1833-1851 . 1912 . New York Putnam . 271 note. 2 .
13. Book: Macready . William Charles . Macready's Reminiscences . 1875 . Harper . 581 . en.
14. 17741. Richard. Foulkes. Macready, William Charles.
15. Book: Rugby School register: with annotations and alphabetical index . 1881 . Rugby : A.J. Lawrence . xiii and 89 .
16. Book: Howard . Joseph Jackson . Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica . 1884 . Hamilton, Adams, and Company . 126. 4 . en.
17. Web site: St. Pancras Church, British History Online . www.british-history.ac.uk.
18. Book: The Gentleman's Magazine . 1831 . E. Cave . 187 . en.
19. Book: Thornton . Thomas . Notes of Cases in the Ecclesiastical & Maritime Courts . 1849 . Professional Books . 581. VI . en.