1 January 1842 – 8 March 1924
Educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was the son of Dr Samuel Birch, Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum, where he too worked between 1864 and 1907 in the Department of Manuscripts.
He made a career transcribing and cataloguing Anglo-Saxon charters. He was therefore an ideal specialist to come into the Hampshire Record Series to edit a volume on a manuscript of the eighth or ninth century once held by St Mary’s Abbey or Nunnaminster, Winchester, which he published in 1899. He followed this in 1892 with Liber Vitae the register of New Minster and Hyde Abbey. The latter included the Stowe manuscript, No, 960, a relic of 56 leaves, 10” x 4¾”, which had survived in a ‘mutilated and diminished state’ in various hands and ended up in the British Museum, now the British Library.
He died in Monte Carlo.
Sources
Portrait
Photograph taken in 1900 (Wikipedia Commons)
Contribution to county’s history
He made widely available two important sources for a scholarly readership capable of dealing with medieval Latin and Middle English.
Relevant published works
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An Ancient Manuscript of the Eighth or Ninth Century formerly belonging to St Mary’s Abbey or Nunnaminster, Winchester, Hampshire Record Series, 1889, Warren & Son, Winchester.
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Liber Vitae: register and martyrology of New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Hampshire Record Series, 1892, Warren & Son, Winchester
Critical Comments
His work reflects a period of intense activity in Hampshire local history amongst scholars and others, including the foundation of the HFC and establishment of the Hampshire Record Series (1888-1897).
Other Comments
English translations of these volumes would make them even more widely available.
Contributor
Barry Shurlock, 31 January 2024
Key Words
Hyde Abbey, New Minster, Nunnaminster, St Mary’s Abbey, British Museum, Anglo-Saxon charters
Any queries or further suggestions for this part of the list should be addressed to celebrating@hantsfieldclub.org.uk.
