Edmund Burke Author, Orator, Political Theorist,
Philosopher and Freemason.
Edmund Burke by James Northcote
Edmund Burke was born in Dublin on 12th January, 1729(1) the son of a prosperous lawyer, Richard Burke, who had converted to the Church of Ireland, and his mother, born Mary Nagle, a Catholic. Burke was a cousin and contemporary of Nano Nagle, the foundress of the "Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary" in Ireland (also known as the "Presentation Sisters"). In later life Burke was secretive about his Irish background and roots(2).
It is said that he was sent there as a child for the sake of his health and indeed he was a sickly child and the city of Dublin in the eighteenth century was an unhealthy place. He spent the next five years in Ballyduff. During this time he attended the local hedge-school. Here he was taught by the schoolmaster, Mr. O'Halloran. This school was under the walls of the ruined castle of Monanimy.
Young Edmund received the first part of his classical education under Mr. Abraham Shackleton(3), a Quaker, who had an academy at Ballitore(4), in County Kildare. Mr. Shackleton was a skillful and successful teacher, and his school was responsible for producing such well-known past pupils as Cardinal Paul Cullen, James Napper Tandy, United Irishman.
In April 1744 Burke sat successfully for entrance to Trinity College, Dublin. Burke's University career was distinguished. He became a scholar of the House in his senior Freshman year in 1746. Between then and taking his degree in January 1748, and for a short time after that, he busied himself setting up a debating club, known as "Edmund Burke's Club", which in 1770 merged with the Historical Club to form the College Historical Society, now the oldest undergraduate society in the world.
The minutes of the meetings of Burke's club remain in the collection of the Historical Society. Oliver Goldsmith was a contemporary and associate of Burke at Trinity(5). He graduated in 1748. Burke's father wished him to study for the law, and with this object he went to London in 1750. He entered the Middle Temple, but soon gave up legal study to travel in Continental Europe. After giving up law, he attempted to earn a livelihood through writing.
There is very little known about Burke's life for the nine years after his graduation in January 1748. |
Oliver Goldsmith
(10th November, 1730 - 4th April, 1774) |
In the spring of 1757 Edmund Burke married Jane Nugent, the daughter of a well-known Irish Catholic physician, Christopher Nugent. In the late 1750's Burke published two books, "A Vindication of Natural Society" in 1756 and "A Philosophical Enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" in 1757. By the early 1760's Burke was laying the foundations of his political career in London. In 1759 he became an assistant to a well-known Parliamentarian of his own age, William Gerard Hamilton, (1729 - 1796). In April 1761 Hamilton became Chief Secretary for Ireland and asked Burke to accompany him as his private secretary. Burke accepted the position. In this role he had an officially minor but significant part to play in the government of Ireland from 1761 to 1764 when Hamilton was dismissed. Burke was in Dublin for sessions of the Irish Parliament in the winters of 1761 and 1762. His principal objective as far as he could influence policy was to improve conditions for the Catholics.
In the autumn of 1761, while the Irish Parliament was in session, he is said to have been already at work on a "Tract Relative to the Laws against Popery in Ireland". This Tract was never completed nor was any part of it published during his lifetime, but fragments of it occupy some seventy pages in the collected works, where they are dated 1764. On the 11th July, 1765 he became Private Secretary to Charles Watson Wentworth, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham (1730 - 1782), who was just then forming a government which was to last for a year. Burke was elected to Parliament for the Borough of Wendover in December 1765. The first Rockingham Government fell in July 1766, the Rockingham Whigs were to remain in opposition for 16 years. Overtures were made to Burke and his political career could have been much more brilliant than it was, had he chosen to abandon Rockingham in, or after, 1766.
In the autumn of 1761, while the Irish Parliament was in session, he is said to have been already at work on a "Tract Relative to the Laws against Popery in Ireland". This Tract was never completed nor was any part of it published during his lifetime, but fragments of it occupy some seventy pages in the collected works, where they are dated 1764. On the 11th July, 1765 he became Private Secretary to Charles Watson Wentworth, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham (1730 - 1782), who was just then forming a government which was to last for a year. Burke was elected to Parliament for the Borough of Wendover in December 1765. The first Rockingham Government fell in July 1766, the Rockingham Whigs were to remain in opposition for 16 years. Overtures were made to Burke and his political career could have been much more brilliant than it was, had he chosen to abandon Rockingham in, or after, 1766.
Burke was held in such high esteem that statues have been erected in his honour in Dublin, Bristol and Washington, D.C.
The Unveiling of the Edmund Burke Statue in 1922 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
In 1744 Edmund Burke was elected member for Bristol. This was a great step forward in his political career and a great parliamentary status. Hitherto he had been member for the insignificant pocket borough of Wendover. In May 1778 he helped to bring about the first legislative measure which relaxed the Penal Code against Catholics. Concern about Ireland was paramount with Burke.
Edmund Burke was thought to be a member of Jerusalem Lodge No. 44, Clerkenwell, London which was sometimes referred to as "Burke's Lodge".
Burke championed John Wilkes when he was imprisoned for libel, writing the political pamphlet "Thoughts on the Present Discontents" in his Defence. It is significant that members of Jerusalem Lodge No. 44 went to the King's bench Gaol on the 3rd March, 1769 and initiated John Wilkes as a Freemason. [John Wilkes (17th October, 1725 – 26th December, 1797)]
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In August 1794 Edmund Burke retired from Government. He died on 9th July, 1797.
He is mainly remembered for his opposition to slavery, his support of the cause of the American Revolutionaries, and for his later opposition to the French Revolution. The latter led to his becoming the leading figure within the conservative faction of the Whig party. Since the 20th century, he has generally been viewed as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism.
Edmund Burke appears on the list of "Famous Masons" on the United Grand Lodge of England website.
Footnotes:
(1) The exact year of his birth, and date for that matter, has the subject of great debate, with different days and years being suggested. Conor Cruise O'Brien in his book "The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography of Edmund Burke" even questions Burke's birthplace as having been in Dublin, arguing in favour of Shanballymore, County Cork (in the house of his uncle, James Nagle).
(2) Conor Cruise O'Brien concluded that Burke, though brought up a Protestant, was deeply wounded by the oppressive and humiliating effects of the Penal Laws on his family and connections, and that this trauma was responsible both for his secretiveness about his Irish background and his life-long hatred of abuse of power in all its forms. His sister Juliana who was brought up as and remained a Roman Catholic.
(3) Abraham Shackleton was a Quaker from west Yorkshire who came to Ballitore in County Kildare and started a school in 1726. He was the great-grandfather of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, Antarctic explorer and Freemason (whose biography will also be appearing in "Famous Irish Freemasons".)
(4) Ballitore is a charming village founded by the Quakers in the 1700's. Due to the writings of Mary Leadbeater and her correspondence with such people as Mary Edgeworth and Edmund Burke, Ballitore is widely known. Ballitore takes its name from the Gaelic 'Baíle' meaning a town, and 'Togher' meaning a marsh. The Quakers from Yorkshire who founded Ballitore, transformed the valley into rich fertile farmlands, and developed the town as a Quaker Settlement. In fact, Ballitore is the only planned and permanent Quaker Settlement in Ireland. Ballitore is the home to several historical buildings.
(5) Goldsmith commenced his studies the same year as Burke in 1744. Statues to both Burke and Goldsmith were erected at Trinity College, Dublin.
(2) Conor Cruise O'Brien concluded that Burke, though brought up a Protestant, was deeply wounded by the oppressive and humiliating effects of the Penal Laws on his family and connections, and that this trauma was responsible both for his secretiveness about his Irish background and his life-long hatred of abuse of power in all its forms. His sister Juliana who was brought up as and remained a Roman Catholic.
(3) Abraham Shackleton was a Quaker from west Yorkshire who came to Ballitore in County Kildare and started a school in 1726. He was the great-grandfather of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, Antarctic explorer and Freemason (whose biography will also be appearing in "Famous Irish Freemasons".)
(4) Ballitore is a charming village founded by the Quakers in the 1700's. Due to the writings of Mary Leadbeater and her correspondence with such people as Mary Edgeworth and Edmund Burke, Ballitore is widely known. Ballitore takes its name from the Gaelic 'Baíle' meaning a town, and 'Togher' meaning a marsh. The Quakers from Yorkshire who founded Ballitore, transformed the valley into rich fertile farmlands, and developed the town as a Quaker Settlement. In fact, Ballitore is the only planned and permanent Quaker Settlement in Ireland. Ballitore is the home to several historical buildings.
(5) Goldsmith commenced his studies the same year as Burke in 1744. Statues to both Burke and Goldsmith were erected at Trinity College, Dublin.