Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Birch, John (1616-1691)
BIRCH, JOHN (1616–1691), presbyterian colonel during the civil war, belonged to a younger branch of the Birches of Birch, and was the eldest son of Samuel Birch of Ardwick, Lancashire, by Mary, daughter of Ralph Smith of Doblane House, Lancashire (Dugdale's Visit. of Lancas. 1664 in Chet. Soc. Pub. lxxxiv. (1872), p. 34). He was born 7 April 1616, not 1626, the date now inscribed on his tombstone (Wood, ed. Bliss, Life, cxviii). It was the general custom of his political opponents to refer to him as of ignoble origin, and the coarseness of his manners gave a colour of probability to the insinuation. In 'A more exact and necessary Catalogue of Pensioners than is yet extant' (Somer's Tracts, vii. p. 60), he appears as 'J.B., once a carrier, now a colonel;' and Burnet states that when a member of parliament he 'retained still, even to affectation, the clownishness of his manner.' He also quotes a speech of Birch, in which he admits that he had 'been a carrier once.' Similar insinuations of the lowness of his origin occur in the traditions as to how he joined the army. According to the Barrett MSS. in the library of the Chetham Society, quoted in note by Thomas Heywood to Newcome's 'Diary' (p.203), 'being of great stature,' he enlisted as a private trooper in the parliamentary army, which being known of Colonel Birch of Birch to be his namesake and countryman, was by him favoured and preferred in the army 'from post to post.' According to another account, while driving his packhorses along the road, he so resolutely resisted the attempt of some parliamentary soldiers under Cromwell to rob him, that he attracted the notice of that commander, who offered him a commission in his troop (Townsend, Hist. of Leominster, p. 109). The pedigree above quoted sufficiently refutes the tradition of his ignoble birth, and his letters prove incontestably that he had received more than a 'clownish education.' That both of the above statements in regard to his early connection with the army are totally groundless, is also evident from his 'Military Memoir,' in which he makes his first appearance as captain of volunteers at the siege of Bristol. Either previously or subsequently he may have acted as 'a carrier,' and 'driven packhorses,' but when he joined the army he had a large business as a merchant in Bristol, and, according to the 'Visitation of Lancashire' above quoted, had married Alice, daughter of Thomas Deane, and widow of Thomas Selfe of Bristol, grocer. It is, however, not an improbable conjecture that Birch came into the possession of his business by marrying the widow of his master, whose goods he may previously have been in the habit of delivering to the customers. In any case, he inherited a combination of talents certain to bring him into prominence in troublous times such as those in which he lived : great personal strength, remarkable coolness in the most perplexing surroundings, an inborn capacity for military command, a rugged eloquence which rendered him one of the most formidable orators of his time, and a keen business instinct which let slip no opportunity of advancing his personal interests, After the surrender of Bristol to the royalists Birch went to London and levied there a regiment, with which he served as colonel under Sir William Waller in his campaigns in the west. In the assault of Arundel he was so severely wounded as to be left for dead; but the cold stopped the hæmorrhage, and thus accidentally saved his life. After obtaining medical assistance in London, he returned to his command, and was present at the battle of Alresford, the blockade of Oxford, and the prolonged skirmish at Cropredy Bridge. Waller's troops having deserted him in the subsequent aimless march towards London, Birch obtained the command of a Kentish regiment of newly levied troops, with which he assisted at the defence of Plymouth. The institution of the New Model was a serious blow to his hopes, for his presbyterian principles were even dearer to him than his own advancement. On its institution he was ordered to join the army of Fairfax and Cromwell near Bridgewater, and was entrusted with the care of Bath. It was in a great degree owing to his representations that in September 1646 it was decided to storm Bristol, and he assisted in its assault with a considerable command of horse and foot, receiving special commendation in the report of Cromwell to the parliament (Carlyle, Cromwell, letter xxxi.) Notwithstanding this, he remained only a colonel of volunteers with the joint care of Bath and Bristol, a position with so few advantages to compensate for its difficulties that he contemplated resigning his commission, when, going to London in November 1645 to inform the committee of safety of his intention, he received a new commission along with Colonel Morgan, governor of Gloucester, to 'distress the city of Hereford.' Only a few months previously the city had successfully withstood the assaults of the Scotch army under Leven ; but Birch, after obtaining secret information of the strength, disposition, and habits of the garrison, succeeded in devising a clever stratagem which enabled him to enter the gates before a proper alarm could be raised. Such a remarkable stroke of fortune was received with general rejoicing in London, and formed the turning-point in Birch's career. He received the special thanks of parliament, who voted 6,000l. for the payment of his men, was appointed governor of Hereford, and shortly afterwards was chosen member for Leominster. With the capture of Goodrich castle in 1646, his career as a soldier of the parliament practically closes. Throughout it, it is not difficult to trace the predominance of his schemes as a man of business. It was possibly to secure compensation for the loss of his property in Bristol that he first became a captain of volunteers. When forced to suspend his business as a merchant, he lent his money to the parliament at the high interest of 8 per cent., and his governorship of Hereford supplied him with admirable opportunities for speculating in church lands, of which he took full advantage, purchasing Whitbourne, a county residence attached to the see of Hereford, for 1,848l., and afterwards the palace of Hereford and various bishop's manors for 2,476l. (Memoir, 154-5). These purchases were of course nullified at the Restoration, and Richard Baxter mentions that Birch sought to persuade him to take the bishopric of Hereford 'because he thought to make a better bargain with me than with another' (Kennet, Register, 303). At the same time Birch made his worldly interests entirely subservient to his presbyterian principles. According to his own statement in the debate of 10 Feb. 1672-73, he suffered, on account of his opposition to the extreme measures of the Cromwellian party, as many as twenty-one imprisonments. When Charles II appeared in England as the champion of presbyterianism. Birch's wariness did not prevent him from being seen riding with Charles in Worcester the day before the baittle. This was remembered against him when fears arose in 1654 of a rising in Hereford, and he suffered an imprisonment in Hereford gaol from March of that year to November 1655 (Thurloe, iv. 237). He was returned to the parliament which met March 1656, but was excluded, and, along with eighty others, signed a protest (Thurloe, v. 453). He took a prominent part in the restoration of Charles II, being chosen in February 1659-60 a member of the new council of state, of which General Monk was the head (Kennet, Register, 66). Notwithstanding his dubious political action, he had held during the later years of the protectorship an important situation in the excise, and at the Restoration he was made auditor. That under the new regime his business instincts were still unimpaired is further shown by the entries in the State Papers (Calendar, Domestic Series (1664-6), pp. 361 and 383) regarding his rental, along with James Hamilton, ranger of Hyde Park, of 55 acres of land at the north-west corner of the park, at an annual rental of 5s., to be planted with apple-trees for cider, one half of the apples being for the use of the king's household. In February 1660-61 he acted as commissioner for disbanding the general's regiment of foot,' and in March following as commissioner for disbanding the navy (Kennet, 389). In the convention parliament he sat for Leominster, from 1671 to 1678 for Penrhyn, and during the remainder of his life for Weobly, the property of Weobly and also that of Garnstone having been purchased by him in 1661. His practical business talents and his acquaintance with military affairs enabled him in the debates to make use of his oratorical gifts with remarkable effect. His plan for the rebuilding of London after the great fire indicated great practical shrewdness, and, had it been followed both then and thereafter up to the present time, the question of housing the poor would have been completely solved. He proposed that the whole land should be sold to trustees, and resold again by them with preference to the old owner, 'which,' as Pepys justly remarks, 'would certainly have caused the city to be built where these trustees pleased (Pepys, Diary, iii. 412). Burnet says of Birch: 'He was the roughest and boldest speaker in the house, and talked in the language and phrases of a carrier, but with a beauty and eloquence that was always acceptable. I heard Coventry say he was the best speaker to carry a popular assembly before him that he had ever known.' He died 10 May 1691, and was buried at Weobly, where a monument was erected to his memory, the inscription of which was defaced by the Bishop of Hereford. In the new inscription the year of his birth is wrongly given as 1626 instead of 1616.
[Memoir by Heywood in edition of Newcome's Diary, Chetham See. Pub. xviii. 203-206; Military Memoir of Colonel John Birch, written by Roe, his secretary, Camden Soc. Pub. 1873; Townsend's Hist. of Own Time; Whitelocke's Memorials; Kennet's Register; Thurloe's State Papers.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.28
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 63 | ii | 13 f.e. | Birch, John (1616-1691): after Leominster insert (1646). He was excluded by Pride's Purge in 1648 and was re-elected in 1654-6 and 1658-9 |
| 64 | i | 8 f.e. | for 1671 read 1661 |
| 7 f.e. | for Penrhyn read Penryn and after and insert in 1678-9, 1680-1, 1688-9, and 1689-90 |