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Authorised form of nameBirch; Thomas (1705 - 1766)
Dates1705 - 1766
NationalityBritish
Place of birthSt George's Court, Clerkenwell, England
Date of birth23 November 1705
Place of deathHampstead Road, London
Date of death09 January 1766
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
The chancel of the church of St Margaret Pattens, Eastcheap
OccupationClergyman, Church of England
ActivityEducation:
DD (1753, Marischal College, Aberdeen)
Career:
Ordained deacon (1730); ordained priest (1731); Rector, Ulting, Essex (1732); Rector, Siddington near Cirencester (1744); Rector, St Michael Wood Street, London (1744); Rector, St Margaret Pattens, Eastcheap, London (1746); one of the first elected Trustees of the British Museum (1753)
Memberships:
FSA (1735)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election20/02/1735
RSActivityRoyal Society roles:
Sec 1752-1765
RelationshipsSon of Joseph Birch, coffee mill maker
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
References:
David Philip Miller, 'The "Hardwicke Circle": the Whig Supremacy and its Demise in the 18th-Century Royal Society' in NR 1998 vol 52 pp 73-91, plate
Geoffrey Cantor, 'Quakers in the Royal Society, 1660-1750' in NR 1997 vol 51 pp 175-193
John H Appleby, 'Robert Dingley, FRS (1710-1781), Merchant, Architect and Pioneering Philanthropist' in NR 1991 vol 45 pp 139-154
A E Gunther, 'The Royal Society and the Foundation of the British Museum, 1753-1781' in NR 1978-9 vol 33 pp 207-216
Gail Ewald Scala, 'An Index of Proper Names in Thomas Birch, The History of the Royal Society (London, 1756-1757)' in NR 1973-4 vol 28 pp 263-329
T E Allibone, 'Edmond Halley and the Clubs of the Royal Society' in NR 1973-4 vol 28 pp 195-205
Marie Boas Hall, 'Henry Miles, FRS (1698-1763) and Thomas Birch, FRS (1705-66)' in NR 1963 vol 18 pp 39-44, plate
A D Atkinson, 'The Royal Society and English Vocabulary' in NR 1956-57 vol 12 pp 40-43
A D Atkinson, 'Dr Johnson and the Royal Society' in NR 1953 vol 10 pp 131-138
H W Robinson, 'Gleanings from the Library - I. A Note on the Early Minutes' in NR 1938 vol 1 pp 92-95
Markman Ellis, 'Thomas Birch's "Weekly Letter" (1741-66): Correspondence and history in the mid-eighteenth century Royal Society', in NR 2014, vol 68, no 3, pp 261-278
CodeNA8129
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
AB/1/2/1/22Receipt for £1 13s and 6d received of Mr Hauksbee by Thomas Birch for postage and porterage6 November 1760
AB/1/2/1/13Receipt to Thomas Birch for money received from Mr Hauksbee9 November 1758
L&P/2/539Letter, 'Agaric as a syptic' from Joseph Warner to Thomas Birch3 December 1754
L&P/4/14Letter, 'Of a supposed accidental cross between a pheasant and a turkey' from George Edwards to Thomas Birch22 May 1760
L&P/4/5Letter, 'Of the frog-fish of Surinam' from Henry Baker to Thomas Birch17 April 1760
L&P/4/193Letter, 'Of an extraordinary tide at Bristol' from Josiah Tucker to Thomas Birch1764
MM/1/51Letter from John Swinton, Christ Church, Oxford, to Thomas Birch23 September 1760
MM/10/131Letter from Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, Plymouth, to Dr Thomas Birch27 January 1761
P/0008Portrait of Birch, Thomas
NLB/5/695Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to R B Prosser, 75 Dartmouth Park Road, Highgate, N.W.18 September 1891
L&P/3/242Letter, 'Of a sheep disease' from James Parsons to Thomas Birch25 April 1757
MM/10/125Letter from Jeremiah Dixon, Portsmouth, to Dr Thomas Birch, Secretary, Royal Society19 December 1760
L&P/3/219Letter, 'Of certain shocks and earthquakes' from Abraham Trembley to Thomas Birch1 February 1757
L&P/3/30Letter, 'A statement concerning Sir I. Newton's Chronology of ancient kingdoms' from G Costard to Thomas Birch10 October 1754
L&P/4/239Letter, 'An account of the 'Memoire sur le Pholade' by Delafaille' from James Parsons to Thomas Birch3 November 1764
L&P/3/353Letter, 'Of staining or painting marble' from Robert Chalmers to Thomas Birch7 February 1759
L&P/2/321Letter, 'Remarks on Daviel's method of couching for cataract' from John Clephane to Thomas Birch1752
L&P/3/406Letter, 'Of the recent comet' from John Michel to Thomas Birch10 January 1760
L&P/3/294Letter, 'Notes on classics, embalming, wheat' from Peter Templeman to Thomas Birch28 December 1757
L&P/2/484Letter, 'Inscriptions in the book Ruins of Palmyra', as examined by Barthelmy' from Joseph de Guignes to Thomas Birch23 February 1754
L&P/3/221Letter, 'Of antiquities discovered at Herculaneum' from John Nixon to Thomas Birch1757
L&P/2/260Letter, 'Oh a hybrid canary' from George Edwards to Thomas Birch3 February 1752
L&P/2/564Letter, 'Of the ascent of vapours' from Henry Eeles to Thomas Birch25 September 1754
L&P/4/165Letter, 'On a fire escape' from Samuel Dunn to Thomas Birch1763
L&P/4/32Letter, 'Of the use of furze in fencing' from David Wark to Thomas Birch13 December 1760
L&P/2/432Letter, 'Of a coralline' from John Ellis to Thomas Birch15 March 1753
L&P/4/124Letter, 'The case of mortification described previously' from Charlton Wollaston to Thomas Birch29 October 1762
L&P/3/13Letter, 'Of experiments made to prove the electrification of ascending vapours' from Henry Eeles to Thomas Birch31 March 1755
L&P/2/465Paper, 'Remarks on W. Watson's account of Nollet's letters concerning electricity' by Thomas Birch1753
L&P/2/285Letter, 'Of a shock of earthquake' from Charles Lyttleton to Thomas Birch13 April 1752
L&P/2/498Letter, 'Of a reference to electricity in Hirtious history of Caesar's African war' from William Stukeley to Thomas Birch21 March 1754
L&P/2/537Letter, 'A remedy for the late contagious disease among horned cattle' from G Williams to Thomas Birch18 November 1754
L&P/2/385Letter, 'Of Chinese astronomy and geography' from Antoine Gaubil to Thomas Birch2 November 1752
L&P/3/245/1Letter, 'Of the grey coot-footed Tringa, a species of snipe' from George Edwards to Thomas Birch3 May 1757
L&P/3/282Letter, 'The anatomical table of C N J, described by Dr James Parsons' from Charles Nicholas Jenty to Thomas Birch20 October 1757
L&P/2/297Letter, 'Of a monstrous sheep with a horn near a yard long' from John Bevis to Thomas Birch14 May 1752
L&P/4/206Letter, 'Observations of an eclipse of the sun' from Mark Day to Thomas Birch3 April 1764
L&P/2/340Letter, 'Of a case treated with agaric and of Daviel's couching for cataract' from Joseph Warner to Thomas Birch21 December 1752
L&P/2/417Letter, 'Of a double burr about the moon' from Henry Miles to Thomas Birch22 February 1753
L&P/2/427Letter, 'Of birds taken at sea' from George Edwards to Thomas Birch8 March 1753
L&P/2/505Letter, 'Progress of geography' from Robert de Vaugondy to Thomas Birch1754
L&P/4/1Letter, 'The comet or aurora of March 10 1760' from Mark Day to Thomas Birch11 March 1760
L&P/4/187Letter, 'Sheaves of rays from the Sun among clouds' from Samuel Dunn to Thomas Birch13 January 1764
L&P/2/377Letter, 'Of a fossil found at Dudley, Staffs' from Emanuel Mendes da Costa to Thomas Birch12 July 1753
L&P/3/104Letter, 'Of a case of vomiting and its cause' from Charles Nicholas Jenty to Thomas Birch2 February 1756
L&P/2/374Letter, 'The rainfall at Charlestown S.C. for 15 years last past' from John Lining to Thomas Birch9 April 1753
L&P/4/168Letter, 'Of purifying air in hospitals' from Thomas White to Thomas Birch22 June 1763
L&P/4/308Letter, 'Of a new barometer' from Henry Pyefinch to Thomas Birch1766
L&P/4/240/1Letter, 'Of an ear of corn drawn out the bladder of a man' from Terence Brady to Thomas Birch16 August 1763
L&P/2/496Paper, 'A remark relating to the decyphering of the Palmyrean characters' by Thomas Birch1754
L&P/2/349Letter, 'Sends a single granule of gold from Cornish tin-works' from C Lyttleton to Thomas Birch21 May 1753
L&P/4/8Letter, 'Of a bone found in the pelvis of a man at Brussels' from Terence Brady to Thomas Birch29 March 1760
L&P/4/123Letter, 'On the occasion of sending books to the Society' from Amquetil Duperon to Thomas Birch24 September 1762
L&P/3/164Letter, 'Of the gravity of the air' from Silvester O'Halloran to Thomas Birch4 April 1756
L&P/3/133Letter, 'Earthquake at Brussels' from John Pringle to Thomas Birch11 March 1756
L&P/3/423Letter, 'Of certain controversies between himself and Frere Come' from Claude Nicholas Le Cat to Thomas Birch6 April 1757
NLB/68/605Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to H. C. Steel Esq.; 23a Browning Road, Enfield22 September 1925
L&P/4/125Letter, 'Accompanying 31 coloured plates for a third part of his Gleanings of Natural History' from George Edwards to Thomas Birch9 October 1762
L&P/4/195Letter, 'Observations of Jupiter's satellites' from Samuel Dunn to Thomas Birch8 March 1764
L&P/3/25Letter, 'Of a human spleen weighin 37 ounces' from Charles Nicholas Jenty to Thomas Birch1755
L&P/4/114Letter, 'Of finding longitude at sea by observation of the Moon' from Nevil Maskelyne to Thomas Birch14 May 1762
L&P/4/17Letter, 'Of a late discovery of asbestos' from John Tuberville Needham to Thomas Birch17 May 1760
L&P/3/152Letter, 'Of the machine to measure the way of a ship at sea' from John Smeaton to Thomas Birch21 March 1756
L&P/4/90Letter, 'A surgical case - a knife broken off in the body' from Thomas Baker to Thomas Birch1761
L&P/3/168Letter, 'An account of Dr Wark's paper on improving refracting telescopes, which had been referred him' from James Short to Thomas Birch20 May 1756
L&P/4/252Letter, 'On lenses' from G Maria della Torre to Thomas Birch29 January 1765
L&P/3/251Letter, 'On an evening solar Iris' from George Edwards to Thomas Birch6 June 1757
L&P/4/194Letter, 'Of gordii - horse-hair worms - with literary news' from Emanuel Mendez da Costa to Thomas Birch24 February 1764
L&P/4/279Letter, 'Of an improved barometer' from James Ferguson to Thomas Birch8 November 1765
L&P/3/38Letter, 'Of insects of the polype kind found in waters near Brussels' from T Brady to Thomas Birch20 September 1755
L&P/2/310Letter, 'On the lava of Mount Vesuvius' from Emanuel Mendes da Costa to Thomas Birch4 June 1752
L&P/3/37Letter, 'Of worms in animal bodies' from Frank Nicholls to Thomas Birch6 November 1755
L&P/2/316Letter, 'On corals' from James Parsons to Thomas Birch17 June 1752
IM/000380Birch, Thomasnd
DM/5/100A list of benefactors to the Library, to the value of £5 or upwards at one time c.1737
NLB/60/877Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to S. B. Gaythorpe Esquire; 3 Prospect Road, Barrow-in-Furness20 April 1921
L&P/2/409Letter, 'On the alteration of the island of Scilly' from William Borlase to Thomas Birch21 December 1752
L&P/4/100Letter, 'Of an agitation of the sea at Barbadoes' from Abraham Mason to Thomas Birch30 May 1761
L&P/4/302Letter, 'Of an inedited Greek coin [colony]' from John Swinton to Thomas Birch7 December 1765
EC/1734/25Birch, Thomas: certificate of election to the Royal Society20 February 1735
NLB/61/407Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to S. B. Gaythorpe Esquire; 3 Prospect Road, Barrow-in-Furness2 July 1921
L&P/3/321Paper, 'Account of the Black Assize at Oxford, 1577' by the Merton College Register, University of Oxford and additional remarks by Thomas Birch1577-1757
L&P/3/276Letter, 'The number of people in England' from Richard Forster to Thomas Birch9 November 1757
L&P/2/369Letter, 'Of the Giant's Causeway' from Richard Pocoke to Thomas Birch18 June 1753
L&P/2/51aLetter, 'Of the earthquake in London of March 8 1749/50' from Thomas Birch to the Royal Society1750
L&P/2/524Letter, 'Of two electrical experiments' from Johann Heinrich Winkler to Thomas Birch22 May 1754
L&P/3/404Letter, 'Of the meteor of 20 Nov' from William Dutton to Thomas Birch1 December 1759
L&P/3/17Letter, 'Note on a sheep's skin' from James Parsons to Thomas Birch29 April 1755
L&P/2/386Letter, 'Meteorological observations at Dublin' from James Simon to Thomas Birch15 November 1753
L&P/3/298Letter, 'Dissertation on the antiquity of glass in windows' from John Nixon to Thomas Birch1758
L&P/4/162Letter, 'An observation in optics (vision in fish)' from George Edwards to Thomas Birch15 June 1763
L&P/3/36Letter, 'Sensibility and irritability in animals' from Richard Brocklesby to Thomas Birch1755
L&P/3/227Letter, 'The thermometer reading at the Hague on 9 Jan 1757' from Abraham Trembley to Thomas Birch15 February 1757
L&P/3/150Letter, 'Covering letter referring to the following item; and account of a Parthian coin' from Robert Clogher and John Swinton to Thomas Birch25 March 1756
L&P/3/201Letter, 'Of the earthquake of 18 Nov 1755 in New England' from John Winthrop to Thomas Birch10 January 1756
L&P/4/300Letter, 'Of some new electrical experiments' from Giovanni Battista Beccaria to Thomas Birch1766
L&P/4/160Letter, 'Of a curious fish' from James Ferguson to Thomas Birch5 May 1763
L&P/4/277Letter, 'Of green hemlock only a palliative in a case of cancer' from Josiah Colebrooke to Thomas Birch31 October 1765
L&P/2/526Letter, 'On Melvill's optical paper in the Philosophical Transactions' from Alexis Claude Clairaut to Thomas Birch30 June 1754
L&P/3/60Paper, 'Agitation in Peerless Pool on Nov 1 1755' by Thomas Birch1755
MM/10/133Letter from P Stephens, Admiralty Office, to Dr Thomas Birch31 January 1761
L&P/3/78Letter, 'The Thames at Rotherhithe on Nov 1' from Henry Mills to Thomas Birch15 December 1755
L&P/3/90Letter, 'Of the earthquake of Nov 1, at Neufchatel' from Rodolph Valtravers to Thomas Birch1755
L&P/3/44Letter, 'Movement of waters at Busbridge near Godalming on Nov 1, 1755' from Philip Carteret Webb to Thomas Birch10 November 1755
L&P/3/52Letter, 'Agitation of waters at Portsmouth on Nov 1' from John Robertson to Thomas Birch23 November 1755
L&P/3/297Letter, 'An experiment to show that the salt of steel does not enter the lacteal vessels' from Edward Wright to Thomas Birch28 February 1758
L&P/3/394Letter, 'Of a fireball seen 20 October 1759' from Richard Forster to Thomas Birch31 October 1759
L&P/4/37Letter, 'Of a meteor; and of a whirlwind' from John Winthrop to Thomas Birch 30 July 1759
L&P/4/170Letter, 'Of an earthquake in the East Indies and two eclipses observed at Calcutta' from William Hirst to Thomas Birch3 November 1762
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