Richard Burke Jr.

Richard Burke
Richard Burke (studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds)
Member of Parliament for Malton
In office 1794–1794
Preceded by	Edmund Burke
Succeeded by	William Baldwin
Personal details
Born	9 February 1758 Battersea
Died	2 August 1794 (aged 36)
Political party	Whig
Relations	Edmund Burke
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Occupation	Agent of the Catholic Committee
Profession	Barrister

Richard Burke (9 February 1758 – 2 August 1794) was a barrister and Member of Parliament in England. He was born in Battersea, the son of Edmund Burke and Jane Mary Nugent.^[1] He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1780. His father had high hopes for "the Whelp", never to be realized.

In 1791 Richard carried out a mission to the Koblenz headquarters of the French émigré army on behalf of his father, who was indulging in private diplomacy. Thereafter he returned to Ireland to become an agent of the Catholic Committee, which attained a small measure towards Catholic Emancipation in the Irish Parliament's "Roman Catholic Relief Act" (1793). In 1794 his father resigned his seat in parliament over the failure to convict Warren Hastings in a parliamentary impeachment. Richard was elected Member of Parliament for Malton, North Yorkshire, in succession to his father, but fell ill soon afterwards, and died in South Kensington at the early age of thirty-six on 2 August 1794, and was buried in Beaconsfield.

The elder Burke suffered grief on a scale described by eyewitnesses as "truly terrific". In the words of his biographer, Edmund's bursts of affliction were of fearful force, so overwhelming indeed as to fright and almost to paralyze those who were around them. The Dictionary of National Biography article describes the grief of the parents as "almost uncontrollable", and his father considered himself ‘marked by the hand of God’ ^[2]

Richard had been a member of The Club since 1782. His contacts with Samuel Johnson were fairly slight, and on one occasion involved a rebuke to the younger man for futile attempts at "smart drollery".

No evidence has been found to support the claim that he was married.

He should not be confused with his uncle, also named Richard Burke.

References

1. Paul Langford, ‘Burke, Edmund (1729/30–1797)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, May 2006 accessed 23 November 2007
2. Burke, Edmund. Correspondence, 8.90

Resources

• Encyclopedia of Richard Burke