Jonathan Birch (EIC captain)
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Jonathan Birch | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1771/1772 |
| Died | September 1848 Alford, Lincolnshire |
| Occupation | Sea captain |
| Employer | East India Company |
| Organization | The Marine Society (committee member) |
| Known for | East India Company captain |
| Spouse | Mary Elizabeth Morrice (d. 1822) |
| Children | William John Birch (son) Elizabeth Mary Morice Birch (daughter, d. 1831) |
| Parent | Rev. Thomas Birch |
| Relatives | William Charles Macready (cousin/close friend) |
Jonathan Birch (1771/2 – September 1848) was a British sea captain for the 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.
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.[1] He captained the Britannia, lost off Brazil in 1805.[2] He then captained its successor of the same name, Britannia.[3]
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 and the brig Apollo.[4][5] He then took the Cabalva on an 1813/4 voyage to Bombay and China.[6]
On land
Birch in retirement from the sea resided in Gower Street, London, and at Pudlicote House, near Shorthampton in Oxfordshire, built in 1810, which he purchased in 1822.[7][8][9]
Birch was on the committee of The Marine Society.[10]
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.[11] Jonathan Birch was his son.[12] Birch was a therefore a relation of Macready on the latter's mother's side.[13]
Macready while he was on tour in New York, and hearing of Jonathan Birch's death, called him "my dear friend and relative".[14] 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.[15][16][17][18]