Birch (family)

Family

Birch (family)

Arthur Nonus Birch (1836-1914), the son of H.W.R. Birch, was appointed clerk in the office of the secretary of state for the colonies in February 1855, served as Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton's assistant private secretary in 1858, and Chichester Fortescue's private secretary from September 1859 to February 1864 when he accepted the post of colonial secretary of British Columbia. He served in that capacity and for a time as administrator of the government until 1866 when he returned to England to resume his duties in the Colonial Office. He remained with the Colonial Office, serving as acting Lieutenant Governor of Penang and Province Wellesley, colonial secretary of Ceylon and Lieutenant Governor of Ceylon, until his retirement from the service in June 1878. After his resignation from the Colonial Office Birch joined the bank of England where he remained until retirement in 1913. Birch returned to Canada in 1907 and 1911, including a visit to British Columbia with his daughter in 1907. Birch married Josephine Watt-Russell in 1873, and one of his two sons assumed his mother's name in order to inherit the family's estate. Birch's only daughter, Una, married L.H.R. Pope Hennessy, son of Sir John Pope Hennessy, a notable colonial governor. Their son, Sir John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy, was a Director of the British Museum.

RAD 22.29B

MCARTER 2011-05-31
Revised Khughes 2022-09-21

Memory BC