Edmund Birch (1831 – 16 January 1875) was a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n Legislative Council from 1873 to 1875. Born in

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in 1831, Birch emigrated to Western Australia on the ''Parkfield'' in March 1841. There he was apprenticed to George Shenton Sr as a pharmacist. From 1852 to 1853, he was an assistant at the Colonial Hospital (now Royal Perth Hospital). He then went into partnership with his father and brother as pharmacists and grocers in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

. In May 1856 he married Anne Hymus; they would have eight children. Birch began to take an interest in public life, becoming vice president of the Perth Workingmen's Association and chairman of the Swan Mechanics' Institute. In 1862 he was a founding director of the Perth Building Society. The following year he became a member of the Perth Municipal Council, which position he held until his death. He became a member of the Perth Board of Education, a director of the WA Bank, and in 1872 was captain of the Volunteer Rifle Corps. On 19 October 1870, Birch contested the Legislative Council's seat of Perth, but was unsuccessful. On 18 November 1873, he contested the seat again in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. He won the seat, holding it until his death. He died on 16 January 1875 as a result of injuries from a fire.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Edmund 1831 births 1875 deaths British emigrants to the Colony of Western Australia Perth City Councillors Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Accidental deaths Deaths from fire 19th-century Australian politicians Deaths in the British Empire