BIRCH, THOMAS (17o5-1766), English historian, son of Joseph Birch, was born at Clerkenwell on Nov. 23, 17o5. He was ordained deacon in the Church of Englanci in 173o and priest in 1731. He held successively a number of 1)enefices in dif ferent counties, and finally in London. Birch was killed on Jan. g, 1766, by a fall from his horse. He left his books and manuscripts to the British Museum, and a sum of about L5oo to increase the salaries of the three assistant librarians.
Birch had an enormous capacity for work. In spite of their dullness many of his works are of considerable value, although Horace Walpole questioned his "parts, taste and judgment." Many of his letters appear in Literary Anecdotes of the .r8th Century (London, 1812-15) and Illustrations of the Literary History of the 18th Century (London, 1817-58) ; by J. Nichols, in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, vol. iii. (London, 178o-go), and in Boswell's Life of Johnson.
For a list of his works see W . P. Courtney in the Dictionary of National Biography, vol. v. (1886) ; A. Kippis, Biographia Britannica ; Horace Walpole, Lett,,,s (1891).