Family and Education

b. by 1526, 1st s. of Roger Birch of Leominster by Juliana, da. and h. of Philip Reding. ?m. Anne. suc. fa. 19 Apr. 1552.1

Offices Held

Collector subsidy, Herefs. 1553; capital burgess, Leominster 1554, bailiff 1559-60, 1566-7.2

Biography

Little has come to light about Birch, who sat once for his native town, in Queen Mary’s last Parliament. For the subsidy of 1559 he was assessed within the Nether Marsh ward of Leominster at £6 a year in lands, and in 1556, according to the chamberlain’s accounts, 7s.6d. had been paid ‘for paving 60 yards by Mr. Birch’s house’. A modern authority states that Birch was buried with his wife Anne in 1599.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: P. S. Edwards

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from age at fa.’s i.p.m., C142/95/98. W. R. Williams, Herefs. MPs, 121.
• 2. E179/17/227; CPR , 1553-4, p. 396; G. F. Townsend, Leominster, 293.
• 3. E179/237/40; Townsend, 75; Williams, loc. cit.