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[[File:Jonathan Birch Wood.jpg|thumb|Jonathan Birch, miniature portrait]]
'''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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Report from the select committee on East India maritime officers: Appendix and index |date=1837 |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zUZDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA68 |language=en}}</ref> He captained the {{ship||Britannia|1772 EIC ship|2}}, lost off Brazil in 1805.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hardy |first1=Charles |title=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 |date=1811 |publisher=Black, Parry, and Kingsbury |page=249 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aaoBAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA249 |language=en}}</ref> He then captained its successor of the same name, ''[[Britannia (1806 EIC ship)|Britannia]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Philip Mould, Historical Portraits |url=http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Item&ItemID=1384 |website=www.historicalportraits.com}}</ref>
[[File:Wrecks of the Britannia, and Admiral Gardner, East Indiamen, on the Goodwin Sands, 24 Jan 1809 RMG PU6386.tiff|thumb|''Wrecks of the Britannia, and Admiral Gardner, East Indiamen, on the Goodwin Sands, 24 Jan 1809'']]
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 (1797 EIC ship)|Admiral Gardner]]'' and the brig ''Apollo''.<ref>{{cite book |title=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 |date=1809 |publisher=Thomas Tegg |location=London |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DCLGvRTiGeEC&pg=PA7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cotton |first1=Sir Evan |title=East Indiamen: The East India Company's Maritime Service |date=1949 |publisher=Batchworth Press |page=137 |url=https://archive.org/details/b29828776/page/137/mode/1up |language=en}}</ref> He then took the ''[[Cabalva (1811 EIC ship)|Cabalva]]'' on an 1813/4 voyage to Bombay and China.<ref>{{cite web |title=CABALVA |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/b76165bc-dc13-41fd-8bc9-94bad0257b75 |website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk |language=English}}</ref>

==On land==
Birch in retirement from the sea resided in [[Gower Street, London|Gower Street]], London, and at [[Pudlicote House]], near [[Shorthampton]] in Oxfordshire, built in 1810, which he purchased in 1822.<ref name="Misc"/><ref>{{cite book |title=History, Gazetteer, and Directory of the County of Oxford |date=1852 |publisher=R. Gardner |page=838 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=edVUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA838 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Edward Gillam |title=The register of electors to vote in the choice of ... members to serve in parliament for the county of Oxford. (Banbury division). |date=1844 |page=149 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NBAIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA149 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Pudlicote House - geograph.org.uk - 1563070.jpg|thumb|Pudlicote House, 2009 photograph]]
Birch was on the committee of [[The Marine Society]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Marine Society (London, England) |title=General State of the Marine Society ... to the 31st December, 1830 |date=1831 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxHQRw499kMC&pg=PA22 |language=en}}</ref>

==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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Macready |first1=William Charles |last2=Toynbee |first2=William |title=The Diaries of William Charles Macready, 1833-1851 |date=1912 |publisher=New York Putnam |page=332 note 2|volume=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/diariesofwilliam02macruoft/page/332/mode/1up}}</ref> Jonathan Birch was his son.<ref>{{cite book |title=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 |date=1998 |publisher=Genealogy Pub. Service |page=323 |language=en}}</ref> Birch was a therefore a relation of Macready on the latter's mother's side.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Macready |first1=William Charles |last2=Toynbee |first2=William |title=The Diaries of William Charles Macready, 1833-1851 |date=1912 |publisher=New York Putnam |page=271 note|volume=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/diariesofwilliam02macruoft/page/271/mode/1up}}</ref>

Macready while he was on tour in New York, and hearing of Jonathan Birch's death, called him "my dear friend and relative".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Macready |first1=William Charles |title=Macready's Reminiscences |date=1875 |publisher=Harper |page=581 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfULAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA704 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=17741|first=Richard|last=Foulkes|title=Macready, William Charles}}</ref><ref>{{alox2|title=Birch, William}}</ref><ref>{{alox2|title=Birch, Thomas (1)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Rugby School register: with annotations and alphabetical index |date=1881 |publisher=Rugby : A.J. Lawrence |pages=xiii and 89 |url=https://archive.org/details/rugbyschoolregis01rugbuoft/page/xiii/mode/1up}}</ref>

==Death==
Jonathan Birch died in 1848, at age 76, at Alford.<ref name="Misc">{{cite book |editor-last=Howard |editor-first=Joseph Jackson |title=Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica |date=1884 |publisher=Hamilton, Adams, and Company |page=126|volume=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qiQFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA126 |language=en}}</ref>

==Family==
Birch, described as of [[St Pancras (parish)|St Pancras]], London, married Mary Elizabeth Morrice (died 1822), daughter of [[William Morice (SPG)|William Morice]].<ref name="Misc"/><ref>{{alox2|title=Morice, William (1)}}</ref> They had a son, [[William John Birch]], known as a writer.<ref>{{alox2|id=Birch, William John|title=Birch, William John}}</ref> A brother and two sisters of William John died young.<ref>{{cite web |title=St. Pancras Church, British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol24/pt4/pp1-9 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref> The eldest daughter, Elizabeth Mary Morice Birch, died in 1831 at age 23.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Gentleman's Magazine |date=1831 |publisher=E. Cave |page=187 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4HVdyfCce0C&pg=PA187 |language=en}}</ref>

After Birch's death, his brother George brought a case on the interpretation of his will of 1845 in the [[Prerogative Court of Canterbury]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thornton |first1=Thomas |title=Notes of Cases in the Ecclesiastical & Maritime Courts |date=1849 |publisher=Professional Books |page=581|volume=VI |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YYpMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA581 |language=en}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Jonathan}}
[[Category:1848 deaths]]
[[Category:British East India Company Marine personnel]]
[[Category:Sea captains]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]

Jonathan Birch (EIC captain) - Revision history

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