(634) Birch of Clare Park

This family descends from the Rev. Jonathan Birch (1684-1735), who was rector of Bakewell (Derbys) and lived at Holme Hall in that parish as a tenant of the Eyre family. It seems likely that he was a descendant of the Birchs of Birch Hall in Rusholme (Lancs), but although his father and grandfather can be identified, the connection to the stem of the family is unclear.

Birch Hall, Rusholme (Lancs): a view of the semi-timbered part of the house,
which dates from the time of the Birchs.

That there was a connection is made more probable by the fact that in 1802 a Robert Birch, who certainly belonged to the main line of the Rusholme Birchs, purchased the freehold of Holme Hall and held it until 1820. 

Holme Hall, Bakewell: the dates chiefly from 1626 but has been much altered.

The Rev. Thomas Birch (1731-1806), with whom the genealogy below begins, was the third son of Jonathan Birch (d. 1735) and followed his father into the church. He became minister of a group of parishes around Alford (Lincs), and he settled at South Thoresby. He and his wife had a large family of ten sons and three daughters, and several of his sons continued the family tradition by pursuing clerical careers: the most successful was the Ven. Dr. Thomas Birch (1766-1840) who was Dean of Battle (Sussex) and Archdeacon of Lewes; while Rev. William Birch (1767-1848) was both rector of Burford (Oxon) and a schoolmaster at Rugby, and Rev. Walter Birch (1774-1829) was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford and later held livings in Essex and Wiltshire. A fourth clerical son was Rev. Henry Birch (1780-1857), who was ordained deacon in 1802 but then abandoned the Church of England and became a minister in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. Other sons went into the army or took to the sea, and the most successful of these were Lt-Gen. John Francis Birch (1776-1856), who served throughout the Napoleonic wars; Jonathan Birch (1772-1848), who retired from a career as captain of an East Indiaman and purchased Pudlicote House (Oxon) in 1822; and Maj. George Birch (1781-1855), who joined the East India Company's Bengal army and eventually returned from India with a substantial fortune. It was George who purchased the recently remodelled Clare Park in Hampshire and moved the family into the landed gentry.

George Birch (d. 1855) married twice but his only children were a son and daughter by his first wife. His son, George Francis Birch (1834-1908), was the heir to Clare Park, while his daughter, Lydia Caroline (1832-81), married the rising politician, George Sclater Booth (1826-94) of Hoddington House (Hants), who after thirty years as an MP became a privy councillor and was raised to a peerage as Baron Basing. George Francis Birch succeeded his father at Clare Park in 1855 and may have remodelled the house soon afterwards. He pursued a career in the Hampshire militia (retiring as an honorary Lieutenant Colonel) and was a JP for fifty years. In 1861 he married Katherine Montgomery Campbell (c.1835-86), who bore him three sons and one daughter. Their eldest son suffered from learning disabilities, so it was their second son, Francis Herrick Birch (1866-1932) who inherited Clare Park. He was a barrister and JP, who also oversaw school attendance officers in Surrey in the years before the First World War. Despite these sources of earned income, he decided he could not afford to maintain Clare Park and sold it in 1921, while retaining a smaller house on the estate. He married in 1903 and had issue two sons, who both went abroad, ending up in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), where they died in the 1970s.

Clare Park, Crondall, Hampshire

The estate can be identified with the manor of Badley, which for much of the medieval and early modern period was held jointly with the manor of Pury or Perryland in Bentley parish. The name Clare or Clere Park is first recorded in 1215, when grain was sent from the estate to Waverley Abbey (Surrey), and in 1246, when timber from the estate was selected for building work in London. There seems not to have been a principal residence here, however, until about 1725, when Elizabeth Harding, widow, is said to have built a new house, much of the fabric of which probably survives with the current three-storey building. To all appearances, however, the present house is early 19th century, and when the house was advertised for sale in 1827 it was described as 'a perfectly modern mansion or villa, of stone coloured brick, slated, elegantly fitted up, and replete with every desirable accommodation for a good establishment', on which 'very considerable sums have been expended by the late proprietor during the last four years, in making many important additions to the house; in improving the approaches to the estate; and in bringing the whole into its present perfect and delightful order'. The work was therefore presumably undertaken for Philip Raoul Lemprière (1785-1859), a Jersey landowner, who intended to settle permanently in England but changed his mind and returned to Jersey, where he was Seigneur of Rozel Manor.

Clare Park: the house in 1921. Image: Country Life.

Clare Park: entrance front today.

Clare Park now consists of a stuccoed principal block five bays by four, with a three-bay, two-storey service wing to the left of the entrance front. The central bay of the entrance front is stepped forward and has a semi-circular porch with slender Tuscan columns. The wide eaves of the oversailing hipped slate roof are supported on coupled curved brackets which have an Italianate feel and probably date from later in the 19th century, when the stucco coating of the walls may also have been applied. It seems likely that these were modernisations undertaken by G.F. Birch after he inherited the estate in 1855, but documentary evidence is lacking. Inside, the house is said to have a well-detailed entrance hall and staircase. A century of institutional use has left the house with extensive ancillary buildings, some attached and some detached, which are now used as additional sheltered housing and a private hospital.

Descent: William Blount, Lord Mountjoy, sold 1532 to William Thorpe; to Michael Lyster of Kinnersley (Herefs); sold 1579 to William Peake (d. 1597); to kinsman, William Walle (d. 1639); to son, Joseph Walle (d. 1644); to son, William Walle (fl. 1657)... William Harding (d. 1707); to son, John Harding; to widow, Elizabeth Harding, who built the present house c.1725...Edward Gibson; sold 1753 to John Jennings... sold c.1805 to Philip Raoul Lempriere (1785-1859) of Rosel Manor (Jersey); sold 1827 to Maj. George Birch (1781-1855); to son, George Francis Birch (1834-1908); to son, Francis Herrick Birch (1866-1932), who sold 1921 to William Butler; sold 1923 to Clare Park School (closed 1969); sold 1970 to Active Elderly Housing Association, later Clare Park Private Retirement Residences.

Birch family of Clare Park

Birch, Rev. Thomas (1731-1806). Third son of Rev. Jonathan Birch (1684-1735) of Holme Hall, Bakewell (Derbys), and his wife Elizabeth (1688-1756), daughter of John Rayner (1662-1746) of East Drayton (Notts), baptised at Bakewell (Derbys), 27 August 1731. Educated at Repton School and Hertford College, Oxford (matriculated 1750; BA 1755). Vicar of Saleby with Thoresthorpe (Lincs), 1764-1806; rector of South Thoresby (Lincs), 1771-1806; rector of Well with Dexthorpe and Claxby (Lincs), 1772-1806. He married, 12 August 1765 at Algarkirk (Lincs), Mary (1743-1807), daughter of Thomas Wright of Algarkirk, and had issue:

(1) Ven. Dr. Thomas Birch (1766-1840), born 23 July and baptised at Alford (Lincs), 25 July 1766; educated at Merchant Taylors School and St John's College, Oxford (matriculated 1785; BCL 1792; DCL 1797); ordained deacon, 1789 and priest, 1790; an 'amiable, learned and pious' clergyman who was perpetual curate of Northmoor (Oxon), 1801-33; dean of Battle (Sussex), 1801-36 and vicar of Bexhill, 1836-40; archdeacon of Lewes, 1825-40; and vicar of Westfield (Sussex), 1828-40; married, 31 January 1804 at Hampton (Middx), Maria Rosaria (1783-1866), third daughter of Charles Edward Gordon (1750-1832) of Wardhouse (Aberdeens.), and had issue four sons and five daughters; died 25 February and was buried at Bexhill (Sussex), 1 March 1840, but is commemorated by a monument in Battle church; will proved in the PCC, 21 May 1840;

(2) Rev. William Birch (1767-1848), born 23 August 1767 at Alford (Lincs); educated at Rugby School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford (matriculated 1783; BA 1787; MA 1792); ordained deacon, 1790 and priest, 1792; a schoolmaster at Rugby School (assistant master, 1788), where he was noted for 'a fist like a sledgehammer, which he pretty freely made use of'; perpetual curate of Astley (Warks), 1808-32; rector of Burford (Oxon), 1826-36; married, 14 August 1790 at Rugby (Warks), Sarah Bucknill (1759-1835) and had issue two sons and one daughter; buried at Rugby, 12 September 1848; will proved in the PCC, 16 November 1848;

(3) Edward Birch (1770-1800), born 15 May and baptised at Alford, 16 May 1770; an officer in the Royal Navy (Lt., 1794); died 22 May and was buried at St Giles, Oxford, 25 May 1800; will proved in the PCC, 26 June 1800;

(4) Elizabeth Birch (1771-84), born 18 June and baptised at Alford, 19 June 1771; died young on 1 April, and was buried at South Thoresby, 3 April 1784;

(5) Jonathan Birch (1772-1848), born 17 August and baptised at Alford, 19 August 1772; a merchant navy captain in the service of the East India Company; a friend of William Charles Macready, the actor and theatre manager, who mentions him in his diaries; lived in retirement at Pudlicote House, Chilson (Oxon), which he purchased in 1822 (and which his son sold in 1864); married, 9 May 1805 at St. Giles-in-the-Fields, Holborn (Middx), Mary Elizabeth (1773-1822), daughter of William Morrice*, and had issue two sons and three daughters; died at the Windmill Inn, Alford (Lincs), while on a visit to his childhood home, 20 September, and was buried at South Thoresby, 23 September 1848; his will was proved in the PCC, 13 December 1848;

(6) Rev. Walter Birch (1774-1829), baptised at South Thoresby, 8 February 1774; educated at Rugby, St. John's College, Oxford (matriculated 1791) and Magdalen College, Oxford (demy, 1791; BA 1795; MA 1798; BD 1805); ordained deacon, 1797 and priest, 1798; Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1797-1818; vicar of Stanton St Bernard (Wilts), 1812-29 and Stanway (Essex), 1817-29; married, 12 November 1818 at Stonehouse (Glos), Elizabeth (1787-1872), daughter of Nathaniel Dimock of Stonehouse, and had issue three sons and two daughters; died 8 December 1829 and was buried at Stanway (Essex), where he was commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 26 January 1830;

(7) Samuel Birch (b. & d. 1775), baptised at South Thoresby, 30 May 1775; died in infancy and was buried at South Thoresby, 8 June 1775;

(8) Lt-Gen. John Francis Birch (1776-1856) born 20 August and baptised at South Thoresby, 31 August 1776; an officer in the Royal Engineers (2nd Lt., 1793; Lt., 1796; Capt., 1801; Maj., 1811; Lt-Col, 1813; Col., 1825; Maj-Gen., 1837; Lt-Gen., 1846), who served throughout the Napoleonic Wars;  author of A memoir on the national defence (1808); married, 25 April 1808 at Edinburgh, Clementina (1777-1844), daughter of Sir James Hunter Blair (1741-87), 1st bt., of Dunskey (Wigtowns.), banker and politician, and had issue two sons and three daughters; died at Folkestone (Kent) and was buried at Crondall (Hants), 3 June 1856, where he is commemorated by a monument; will proved in the PCC, 19 June 1856;

(9) Samuel Birch (1777-78), born 5 October and baptised at South Thoresby, 12 November 1777; died in infancy and was buried at South Thoresby, 13 April 1778;

(10) Henry Birch (1780-1857), born 18 June and baptised at South Thoresby, 31 July 1780; educated at St John's College, Oxford (matriculated 1797) and Magdalen College, Oxford (BA 1801; MA 1804); ordained deacon, 1802; curate of Well with Dexthorpe and Claxby (Lincs), 1802, but left the Church of England and became a minister in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connection chapel at Dane House, Brighton (Sussex); married, 11 June 1812 at St Pancras (Middx), his cousin, Penelope Yorke (c.1771-1838), daughter of Rev. John Neville Birch, rector of Leasingham (Lincs), and had issue one son; died 31 May, and was buried at Cranbrook (Kent), 5 June 1857; will proved in the PCC, 10 July 1857;

(11) George Birch (1781-1855) (q.v.);

(12) Mary Birch (1784-1865), born 22 January and baptised at South Thoresby, 2 March 1784; married, 11 January 1815 at Battle (Sussex), as his second or third wife, Samuel Bucknill FRCS (1783-1863) of Rugby, general practitioner, and had issue four sons and one daughter; died 12 November 1865;

(13) Elizabeth Frances Birch (1785-1864), baptised at South Thoresby, 30 March 1785; married, 20 June 1820 at St Andrew, Rugby (Warks), Rev. Charles Eddy (c.1790-1830) of Guilsborough (Northants), and had issue one son and three daughters; died 27 March 1864.

He lived at South Thoresby (Lincs).

He died 22 September, and was buried at South Thoresby, 27 September 1806. His widow died 28 August 1807 and was buried at Battle (Sussex).

* Not John Morrice FSA, as stated by O'Neil; he was her brother.

Birch, George (1781-1855). Tenth and youngest son of Rev. Dr. Thomas Birch (d. 1806) and his wife Mary Wright, born 25 August and baptised at South Thorsby (Lincs), 28 August 1781. An officer in the East India Company's Bengal army (Cadet, 1798; Ensign, 1799; Lt., 1799; Capt., 1810; Maj., 1823; retired 1824), who obtained a staff appointment on the basis of his command of native languages, and held both military and diplomatic postings in the northern provinces of Bengal. He returned to England in the 1820s with a considerable fortune. JP for Hampshire. He married 1st, 15 June 1831, Lydia Diana (d. 1837), daughter of Samuel Francis Dashwood of Stanford (Notts), and 2nd, 23 August 1849 at St Michael, Pimlico (Middx), Louisa (c.1802-83), daughter of John Edwards of Edgbaston (Warks), and had issue:

(1.1) Lydia Caroline Birch (1832-81), baptised at Crondall, 9 April 1832; married, 8 December 1857 at Crondall, Rt. Hon. George Sclater Booth (1826-94), Conservative MP for North Hampshire, 1857-85 and for Basingstoke, 1885-87, and later 1st Baron Basing, son of William Lutley Sclater of Hoddington House (Hants), and had issue four sons and six daughters; died 5 July, and was buried at Upton Grey (Hants), 11 July 1881;

(1.2) George Francis Birch (1834-1908) (q.v.).

He purchased Clare Park in 1827.

He died at Folkestone (Kent), 23 February and was buried at Crondall, 2 March 1855. His first wife died 10 January and was buried at Crondall, 14 January 1837. His widow died 4 November and was buried at Crondall, 8 November 1883; her will was proved 15 March 1884 (effects £1,416).

Birch, George Francis (1834-1908). Only son of George Birch (1781-1855) and his wife Lydia Diana, daughter of Samuel Francis Dashwood of Stanford (Notts), born 6 January and baptised at Crondall, 11 March 1834. Educated at Brighton, Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge (admitted 1852; BA 1856). An officer in the Royal East Middlesex Militia (Capt., 1856) and later in Hampshire Militia (Capt., 1858; Maj., 1875; hon. Lt-Col., 1881; retired 1882). JP (from 1858) and DL for Hampshire and JP for Surrey; he was chairman of the Aldershot and Odiham Petty Sessions. He married, 29 October 1861 at Woodhouse (Leics), Katherine Georgina Montgomery (c.1835-86), daughter of Hugo Montgomery Campbell of The Hollies, Enville (Staffs), and had issue, with a premature, stillborn daughter born in 1863:

(1) George Reginald Birch (1864-1930), born 27 August and baptised at Crondall, 29 August 1864; suffered from learning disabilities and lived at Normansfield Hospital, Teddington (Middx); died unmarried, 12 April 1930;

(2) Francis Herrick Birch (1866-1932) (q.v.);

(3) Lydia Mary Birch (1868-1953), born 2 February and baptised at Crondall, 15 March 1868; self-employed gardener; died unmarried, 21 June and was buried at Crondall, 25 June 1953; will proved 21 November 1953 (estate £11,742);

(4) Arthur Charles Birch (1870-1936), born 24 September and baptised at Crondall, 23 October 1870; an officer in the Royal Artillery (2nd Lt., 1890; Lt., 1893; Capt., 1900; retired 1901 but returned to colours, 1914; Maj., 1915), who served in Boer War (when he was a prisoner of war) and First World War; died unmarried, 25 August 1936 and was buried at Crondall; will proved 22 October 1936 (estate £9,747).

He inherited Clare Park from his father in 1855.

He died 18 August and was buried at Crondall, 20 August 1908; his will was proved 5 December 1908 (estate £3,756). His wife died at Thurmaston Hall (Leics), 6 October 1886.

Birch, Francis Herrick (1866-1932). Second son of George Francis Birch (1834-1908) and his wife Katherine Georgina, daughter of Hugo Montgomery Campbell of The Hollies (Staffs), born 23 February and baptised at Crondall, 8 April 1866. Educated at Winchester, Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1884; BA 1887) and Inner Temple (admitted 1888; called 1891). Barrister-at-law on the Western circuit and at Hampshire area Quarter Sessions until c.1914; Superintendent of School Attendance in Dorking, Reigate and Godstone divisions of Surrey, 1903; JP for Hampshire from 1912. He married, 25 July 1903 at Holy Trinity, Chelsea (Middx), Constance Somerville (1864-1956), daughter of Gen. Sir Charles Cameron Shute, kt., MP for Brighton, 1874-80, and had issue:

(1) Charles Francis Birch (1904-74), born 13 September and baptised at Ewshot (Hants), 23 October 1904; educated at Charterhouse; racehorse trainer at Ogbourne (Wilts); served in Second World War with Royal Air Force, but evidently emigrated to Southern Rhodesia later; married, 3 January 1934, Catherine Alice Anne (k/a Nancy) (1909-88) (who m2, 1979, Charles Alexander Kennedy (1900-81)), only daughter of William John of Marlborough Grange, Cowbridge (Glam.), and had issue one son and two daughters; died at Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), 19 August 1974; administration of goods granted 17 May 1975 (estate in England & Wales, £860);

(2) George Arthur Birch (1909-70), born 13 January 1909; educated at Winchester; had a varied career including being a tobacco planter in Southern Rhodesia and later a stockbroker in England and a shipping merchant in South Africa; served in Second World War with Royal Artillery; married, 3 March 1934 in Southern Rhodesia, Margaret (1910-75) (who m2, Abel Lawrence Peirson jr. (1897-1983) of Dorset, Bennington, Vermont (USA)), second daughter of William Smith-Wilson of Sao Paolo (Brazil), and had issue one son; died in Zimbabwe in October 1970.

He inherited Clare Park from his father in 1908, but sold it in 1921 and lived subsequently at West Kennett Farm, Marlborough (Wilts) and Beaumont House, Crondall. His widow lived latterly at Bognor Regis (Sussex).

He died 6 November 1932; his will was proved 15 December 1932 (estate £40,106). His widow died 16 February 1956; her will was proved 2 August 1956 (estate £4,405).

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 182; J.B. Payne, A monograph of the house of Lempriere, 1862, pp. 10-11; J.S. Buckley, The history of Birch in Rusholme, 1910, pp. 9-15; VCH Hampshire, vol. 4, 1911, pp. 5-14, 27-30; B.L. O'Neil, The Birch family history, 1998; M. Craven & M. Stanley, The Derbyshire country house, 2001, pp. 120-21; M. Bullen, J. Crook, R. Hubbuck & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Hampshire - Winchester and the North, 2010, p. 234;

Location of archives

No significant accumulation is known to survive.

Coat of arms

None recorded.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide portraits or photographs of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 4 May 2026.