Edward Wheler Bird

Edward Wheler Bird (16 April 1823[1] – 21 May 1903) was a British civil servant in the Indian Civil Service.

He was born in Trichinopoly, British India,[2] in 1823, the son of John Bird, a provincial judge,[3] and Mary.[4] He returned to London for schooling and is listed in London's University College School's alumni as having attended from '32-38 and being "a great Tamil scholar."[5] He went back to India for a career in the Madras Civil Service and is listed as having been "special assistant to collector and magistrate, Masulipatam."[6]^[non-primary source needed]

In 1868, he retired from civil service and moved to Bristol, where he became involved in various missionary organizations, including the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews and the Bible Society.[3]

Bird became active in the British Israelite Movement in 1874, after having read a book by John Wilson.[3] He helped found the Anglo-Israel Association, which merged with the Anglo-Ephraim Association in 1878. Bird became president of the newly formed Metropolitan Anglo-Israel Association.[7]: 209  He oversaw an excavation of the Hill of Tara that caused irreparable damage in the early years of the 20th century.^[citation needed]

He died at his home, Woodcote Villa, in Tyndalls Park, Bristol.[8]

References

1. "Births". Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies. 16. Black, Parbury, & Allen: 607. 1823. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
2. 1901 England Census
3. Katz, David S. (2001). "Chapter 5: Israel in America: The Wanderings of the Lost Ten Tribes from Mikveigh Yisrael to Timothy McVeigh". In Fiering, Norman; Bernardini, Paolo (eds.). The Jews and the Expansion of Europe to the West, 1450 to 1800. New York, NY: Berghahn Books. p. 114. ISBN 1-57181-153-2. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
4. India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947
5. University College School (1892). Alphabetical and Chronological Register for 1831-1891. London: H. Walton Lawrence. p. 63. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
6. East-India Register and Army List. W.H. Allen & Co. 1853. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
7. Kidd, Colin (2006). The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600-2000. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-79729-0. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
8. "Deaths". Clifton Society. 28 May 1903. p. 15. Retrieved 1 June 2023.

Further reading

• Carew, Mairéad (2003). Tara and the Ark of the Covenant. Royal Irish Academy. ISBN 978-0954385521.

See also

• Edward Hine