BURKE, EDMUND PLUNKETT (1802–1835), judge, was born of Irish parents at Lisbon in 1802, and, being brought to England at an early age, was, till his fifteenth year, educated at home or by Dr. Robertson, a schoolmaster of some repute. At fifteen he was placed in the Lycée at Caen, Normandy, where during three years he greatly distinguished himself. He was then entered at Caius College; Cambridge, but, disliking mathematics, did not proceed to a degree, and devoted his great talents to the study of civil law. While still an undergraduate he wrote his ‘Essay on the Laws and Government of Rome; introductory to the Civil Law,’ a work which if not erudite, for he was ignorant of German, was surprising for his years and excited great attention at Cambridge. In 1830 he published a second edition with his name. He joined the Inner Temple and was called to the bar, but his private means being lost by the imprudence of a relation, he was too poor to buy books or pay fees for reading in counsel's chambers, and too proud to seek aid of his friends. Though diligent he was unsystematic, and made little legal progress. He wrote biographical notices for the ‘Law Magazine,’ but even here, though his research was extensive, his dilatory habits stood in his way. In 1832, on the reputation of his book and his knowledge of French, he was appointed to a judgeship in St. Lucia, West Indies, and in 1833 the governor, General Farquhar, made him judge of the admiralty court. He died in 1835 of an injury received during a hurricane in St. Dominica.
[Law Magazine, xiii. 532.]
BURKE, JOHN (1787–1848), genealogist, was the elder son of Peter Burke of Elm Hall, Tipperary, by his first wife, Anne, daughter an coheiress of Matthew Dowdall, M.D., of Mullingar. In accordance with a family arrangement, his younger brother Joseph succeeded to the estate at the father's death on 13 Jan. 1836. John Burke early engaged in literary work in London, but afterwards devoted himself to genealogical studies, and in 1826 he issued a ‘Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom.’ For the first time such a work was arranged alphabetically, and peers and baronets were treated together. The convenience of its method at once gave it great popularity. The ‘Peerage’ was republished at irregular intervals until 1847, when it reached its ninth edition. From that date it has been issued annually. ‘A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance,’ was first published by Burke in 1831 (3rd edit. 1846); later editions, prepared by Sir J. B. Burke, appeared in 1866 and 1883. In 1831 Burke also issued what was intended to be the first of a series of annual handbooks, entitled ‘The Official Kalendar for 1831;’ but the series was not continued. Between 1833 and 1838 he published ‘A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland,’ in four 8vo volumes; another edition was issued in 1837-8; and a third edition in two volumes between 1843 and 1849. The title was altered in the later editions to ‘A Dictionary of the Landed Gentry,’ and a supplementary volume appeared in 1844, containing corrigenda and a general index. Burke was also the author of ‘The Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Females, including Beauties of the Courts of George IV and William IV,’ 2 vols. 1833; of ‘A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England,’ 1838 (re-issued 1841 and 1844); of ‘The Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland,’ 1841; of ‘A General Armoury of England, Scotland, and Ireland,’ 1842 (republished in Bohn's series in 1844 as Burke's ‘Encyclopedia of Heraldry,’ and by Sir J. B. Burke in an enlarged form in 1878); of ‘Heraldic Illustrations, comprising the Armorial Bearings of
