Sir Joseph Birch 1st Bart.

18th Jun 1755 - 22nd Aug 1833

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

MP for Nottingham, and Liverpool merchant with an entry in the ODNB. Commercial interests included East Indian stock and West Indian 'property' [i.e. slave-owning], centred on Liverpool. He was also a slave-trader, with nine voyages from Liverpool in various partnerships.

Connected through marriage to the Heywoods of Liverpool.

Remade his will 10 July 1833 because of both the Jamaican rebellion and emancipation: ‘in consequence of the change of circumstances and from the unfavourable alteration in the prospect of my affairs in Jamaica’. Left the bulk of his landed and remaining personal wealth to his only surviving son, Thomas Bernard Birch (1791-1880), Liberal MP Liverpool, 1847-1852 (q.v.).

Notes on Thomas B. Birch include more about the Heywood connection.


Sources

Brief biographies in R. G. Thorne (ed.), The House of Commons, 1790-1820 (5 vols., London, Secker & Warburg for the History of Parliament Trust, 1986), vol. 3, D. R. Fisher (ed.), The House of Commons 1820-1832 (7 vols., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press for the History of Parliament Trust, 2009), vol. 4. The former describes him inter alia as 'Jamaican proprietor', while the latter says Birch 'had various commercial interests, including East Indian stock and West Indian property.'

Stephen M. Lee, ‘Birch, Sir Joseph, first baronet (1755–1833)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/46310 [accessed 26/09/2012], which describes his commercial interests as including 'landholding in Jamaica.'

 

 


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Name in compensation records
Sir Joseph Birch
Spouse
Elizabeth Mary
Children
1 surviving son, 3 daughters
Occupation
Politician
Religion
Unitarian
Oxford DNB Entry

Associated Claims (1)

£1,689 5s 3d
Beneficiary deceased (Mortgagee)

Associated Estates (2)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1796 [EA] - 1833 [LA] → Owner
1796 [EA] - 1802 [LA] → Owner

Legacies Summary

Commercial (1)

Name partner
Joseph Birch & Co.
West India merchant  
 

Political (1)

MP
Whig 
election →
Nottingham Nottinghamshire
1802 - 1803
election →
Ludgershall Wiltshire
1812 - 1818
election →
Nottingham Nottinghamshire
1818 - 1830

Relationships (3)

Father → Son
Business associates
Notes →
The two men were co-owners of ships in the Liverpool Registry, and co-partners with others in five slave...
Business associates

Addresses (1)

Red Hazles, Prescot, Liverpool, Lancashire, North-west England, England