Difference between revisions of "John Birch"

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[[File:M4692-troops-arriving-lores.jpg|800px|thumb|right|''Reinforcements - Troops Arriving from Melbourne,'' Ballarat Heritage Services Picture Collection.]]
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[[File:Eureka drawing - colour - BHS-wiki1.jpg|800px|thumb|right|''Eureka,'' Ballarat Heritage Services Picture Collection.]]
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==Background==
 
==Background==
  
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John Hill Birch and his twin brother James Birch were born on 5 July 1833 and baptised two days later at the First Presbyterian Church in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern [[Ireland]]. They were the first-born children of Samuel Birch and Emily (nee Hill), who were married in Belfast in August 1829. All that is known about their families is that Samuel’s father, James, was a farmer in Castledawson when Samuel enrolled in the Belfast Academical Institution (Belfast College) in 1824. After graduating in 1828, Samuel established an academy in Dungannon, which he ran as Master during the 1830s. Various family documents later refer to him as a Doctor of Laws and a Presbyterian Minister, but these titles are fabrications. His death is unrecorded, but he may have died in Dungannon between 1846 and 1851. By 1852,  Emily and their six children had moved to Belfast, where she supported them by teaching. She was also closer to her own family, one of the Hill families of Carnmoney, near Belfast. No record of her birth can be found, but her parents were probably John and Margaret (nee McConnell) and she had at least five younger siblings. <ref>Birch, Bill, John Hill Birch: Eureka veteran, unpublished research emailed to Eurekapedia, 01 April 2013.</ref>
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Private John Birch (#3311) in the 12th Regiment on board the [[Camperdown]] in 1854. Formerly a painter from Herefordshire, [[England]], he was in a small detachment posted to [[Castlemaine]] early in 1855. In September 1855 he was arrested and charged with ‘robbery in company’, after he and two women had forcibly stolen a watch and chain and several pound notes from a miner named Aaron Garlick at a sly-grog tent at Barkers Creek. John Birch was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months hard labour on the roads, with the women receiving three months in Castlemaine gaol. Muster rolls for the 12th Regiment show that he was ‘in custody of civil power’ during 1856, but he must eventually have returned to duty, as he was posted to New Zealand in 1860, along with Private James Birch (brother of John Hall Birch), and seems to have been just as big a troublemaker.<ref>Birch, Bill, ''John Hill Birch: Eureka veteran'', unpublished research emailed to Eurekapedia, 01 April 2013. Records searched include AJCP WO 12 (State Library of Victoria and Mitchell Library, Sydney). Muster rolls for First Battalion, 12th Regiment. VPRS 30/P0/unit 47, case 2-134-4: Briefs of court cases Castlemaine.</ref>
  
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The Birch twins trained as brass-founders in Belfast, before enlisting as privates in the 12th (Suffolk) Regiment of the British Army in April 1853. By then, James had married Mary Ann Stewart at St Anne’s church, Belfast, on 25th December 1852, and had fathered a son, Charles Stewart. Both John and James understated their ages by about three years in order to receive the £4 bonus for being under 18. In July 1854, they sailed from Cork, in a complement of 330 officers and men, 41 women and 37 children, aboard the [[Camperdown]]. The ship arrived in Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, on 17 October and promptly ran aground at Queenscliff. However it floated free and berthed at Queens Wharf, Melbourne, the next day.<ref>Birch, Bill, John Hill Birch: Eureka veteran, unpublished research emailed to Eurekapedia, 01 April 2013.</ref>
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There were several ‘John Birch’s’ around the mid 1850s who left records. There were two John Birchs in the 12th Regiment at Ballarat in December 1854. The other one is [[John Hill Birch]].<ref>Birch, Bill, ''John Hill Birch: Eureka veteran'', unpublished research emailed to Eurekapedia, 01 April 2013.</ref>
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A private in the 12th Regiment. <ref>http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/art/12th_regt_birch.htm, viewed 29 March 2013,</ref> his twin Brother, James Birch, also enlisted with the 12th Regiment at Belfast in April 1854.<ref>http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/art/12th_regt_birch.htm, viewed 29 March 2013.</ref>
 
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Birch died aged 67 at the Bendigo Benevolent Asylum in July 1900. <ref>http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/art/12th_regt_birch.htm, viewed 29 March 2013.</ref>
 
  
 
==Goldfields Involvement, 1854==
 
==Goldfields Involvement, 1854==
  
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John Birch was a private in the 12th Regiment. <ref>http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/art/12th_regt_birch.htm, viewed 29 March 2013.</ref> Birch arrived in Ballarat from Melbourne on 21 October 1854. He deserted from the 12th Regiment on 12 January 1855. <ref>http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/art/12th_regt_birch.htm, viewed 29 March 2013.</ref>
 
  
 
==Post 1854 Experiences==
 
==Post 1854 Experiences==
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After John birch deserted from the Military he may have gone under the name John Hill. Birch arrived in Ballarat from Melbourne on 21 October 1854. He deserted from the 12th Regiment on 12 January 1855. <ref>http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/art/12th_regt_birch.htm, viewed 29 March 2013.</ref>
 
  
 
==See also==
 
==See also==
  
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==Further Reading==
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[[John Hill Birch]]
  
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Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. ''The Eureka Encyclopaedia'', Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.
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[[Military]]
  
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==Further Reading==
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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==External links==
 
==External links==
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http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/art/12th_regt_list.htm
 
  
 
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[[File:File name.jpg|500px|thumb|right|''Caption,'' Reference.]]
 

Latest revision as of 23:37, 11 September 2017

Reinforcements - Troops Arriving from Melbourne, Ballarat Heritage Services Picture Collection.
Eureka, Ballarat Heritage Services Picture Collection.

Background

Private John Birch (#3311) in the 12th Regiment on board the Camperdown in 1854. Formerly a painter from Herefordshire, England, he was in a small detachment posted to Castlemaine early in 1855. In September 1855 he was arrested and charged with ‘robbery in company’, after he and two women had forcibly stolen a watch and chain and several pound notes from a miner named Aaron Garlick at a sly-grog tent at Barkers Creek. John Birch was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months hard labour on the roads, with the women receiving three months in Castlemaine gaol. Muster rolls for the 12th Regiment show that he was ‘in custody of civil power’ during 1856, but he must eventually have returned to duty, as he was posted to New Zealand in 1860, along with Private James Birch (brother of John Hall Birch), and seems to have been just as big a troublemaker.[1]

There were several ‘John Birch’s’ around the mid 1850s who left records. There were two John Birchs in the 12th Regiment at Ballarat in December 1854. The other one is John Hill Birch.[2]

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

Post 1854 Experiences

See also

John Hill Birch

Military

Further Reading

References

  1. ↑ Birch, Bill, John Hill Birch: Eureka veteran, unpublished research emailed to Eurekapedia, 01 April 2013. Records searched include AJCP WO 12 (State Library of Victoria and Mitchell Library, Sydney). Muster rolls for First Battalion, 12th Regiment. VPRS 30/P0/unit 47, case 2-134-4: Briefs of court cases Castlemaine.
  2. ↑ Birch, Bill, John Hill Birch: Eureka veteran, unpublished research emailed to Eurekapedia, 01 April 2013.

External links

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