BURKE, WILLIAM, eldest son of John Burke (or Bourke), Middle Temple and St. James’s, London, and his first wife Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Burke, London, vintner; b.; adm. (aged 13) Sep 1742 (Durand's); KS 1743; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1747, matr. 26 Jun 1747, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1747 - 26 Jun 1761 (void), leave of absence on appt. as Secretary, Guadeloupe, 25 Aug 1759; BCL 1755; adm. Middle Temple 26 May 1750, called to bar 28 Nov 1755; Secretary and Registrar, Guadeloupe, 1759-63; Under-Secretary of State, Jul 1765 - Feb 1767; MP Great Bedwyn 16 Jun 1766-8, 29 May 1768-74; lost substantial sums of money in speculations on the Stock Exchange, 1769; in India 1777-8, becoming agent for Rajah of Tanjore; again in India 1780-93, initially at Madras, subsequently at Calcutta; Deputy Paymaster of the Forces, East Indies, 1782-93; present at OWW dinner at Calcutta 1783 (Hickey, Memoirs, iii, 245-6); figures in Goldsmith’s Retaliation; lived on intimate terms with his distant kinsman Edmund Burke, with whom he wrote An Account of the European Settlements in America, 1757; author of two pamphlets on the peace negotiations, 1759 and 1761; d. Mar 1798. DNB.
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Scope note(s)
Source note(s)
- https://collections.westminster.org.uk/index.php/houses
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Hierarchical terms
Houses
- NT Armfeild's
- NT Ashburnham
- NT Ashby's
- NT Atwood's
- NT Bainbrigg's
- NT Benthall's
- NT Best's
- NT Bourne's
- NT Burges'
- NT Busby's
- NT Butler's
- NT Chelsum's
- NT Clapham's
- NT Clarke's
- NT College
- NT Dale's
- NT Dean's
- NT Desaguliers'
- NT Douglas'
- NT Dryden's
- NT Du Brieux's
- NT Durand's
- NT Edwards'
- NT Finch's
- NT Fox's
- NT Geary's
- NT Gibson's
- NT Grant's
- NT Greet's
- NT Guthry's
- NT Guyneham's
- NT Hakluyt's
- NT Hart's
- NT Hawkins'
- NT Heath's
- NT Hodgson's
- NT Homeboarders'
- NT Howe's
- NT Hume's
- NT Hutton's
- NT Jackson's
- NT James'
- NT Jones'
- NT Langton's
- NT Levett's
- NT Liddell's
- NT Lloyd's
- NT Ludford's
- NT Macklin's
- NT Majendie's
- NT Maskelyne's
- NT Mellisham's
- NT Milne's
- NT Morel's
- NT Morrison's
- NT Ottey's
- NT Packharness'
- NT Peirson's
- NT Philips'
- NT Playford's
- NT Porten's
- NT Powell's
- NT Prat's
- NT Preston's
- NT Price's
- NT Purcell's
- NT Rigaud's
- NT Russel's
- NT Scott's
- NT Smalridge's
- NT Smalwell's
- NT Smedley's
- NT Smith's
- NT Stelfox's
- NT Stephens'
- NT Stikeman's
- NT Taylor's
- NT Watts'
- NT Williams'
- NT Woodcock's
- NT Wren's
- NT Wynniate's