BURKE, SIR JOHN BERNARD British genealogist, was born in London, Jan. 5, 1814, and was educated in London and in France. His father, John Burke (1787-1848), was also a genealogist, and in 1826 issued a Genealogical and Her aldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom. This work, generally known as Burke's Peerage, has been issued annually since 1847. While practising as a barrister Bernard Burke assisted his father in his genealogical work, and in 1848 took control of his publications. In 1853 he was appointed Ulster king-at-arms; in 1854 he was knighted, and in 1855 he be came keeper of the state papers in Ireland. Burke also brought out several editions o'f a companion volume to the Peerage, Burke's Landed Gentry, which was first published between and 1838. In 1866 and 1883 he edited his father's Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Scotland and Ireland, extinct, dormant and in abeyance (earlier editions, 1831, 184o, 1846) ; in 1855 and 1876 editions of his Royal Families of England, Scotland and Wales (1st ed. 1847-51) ; and in 1878 and 1883 enlarged editions of his Encyclopaedia of Heraldry, or General Armoury of Eng land, Scotland and Ireland.
Burke's own works Include The Roll of Battle Abbey (1848) ; The Romance of the Aristocracy (1855); Vicissitudes of Families (1883, and several earlier editions) ; and The Rise of Great Families (1882). He was succeeded as editor of Burke's Peerage and Landed Gentry by his fourth son, Ashworth Peter Burke.