BIRKBECK, GEORGE (1 7 76-1841 ), English physician and philanthropist, was born at Settle in Yorkshire on Jan. r o, 1 7 76. In r 799, after graduating as doctor of medicine, he was appointed to the chair of natural philosophy at the Andersonian institution of Glasgow. In the following year he delivered a free course of scientific lectures for working men. He removed to London in 1805, and there, in 1823, he helped to found the Mechanics' institute, the name of which was afterwards changed to Birkbeck institution or college, in honour of its founder. He was appointed director of the institute, which he had originally endowed with the sum of f3,7oo, and held the office till his death on Dec. r, 1841. The scope of the institution was gradually extended, and an enlargement of the buildings was carried out in 1883-85. The college became a constituent college of London university in 192o.
See C. Delisle Burns, A Short History of Birkbeck College (1924) •