{{for|other people with the same name|Walter Birch (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox academic | name = Walter de Gray Birch | image = Walter de Gray Birch, 1900 - Accademia delle Scienze di Torino 0117 C.jpg | caption = Birch at the [[Turin Academy of Science]] in 1900, age 58. | birth_date = 1 Jan 1842 | death_date = 8 March 1924 | occupation = [[Curator]], [[Editor]], [[Librarian]] | education = [[Charterhouse School]] | alma_mater = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] | discipline = [[History]], [[Philology]] | sub_discipline = [[Anglo Saxons|Anglo Saxon Studies]], [[Heraldry]] | workplaces = [[British Museum]], Department of Western Manuscripts }} '''Walter de Gray Birch''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FSA}} (1 Jan 1842 – 8 March 1924)<ref name=":0" /> was an English historian, editor and author. He is best known for his ''[[Cartularium Saxonicum]] — A Collection of Charters Relating to Anglo-Saxon History'', which supersedes [[John Mitchell Kemble]]'s ''Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici''.
==Early life and education== Walter was born on [[New Year's Day]] 1842, the son of Dr [[Samuel Birch (Egyptologist)|Samuel Birch]], Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum, and Charlotte F. Gray, sister of [[John Edward Gray]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Walter De Gray Birch - Celebrating Hampshire's Historians - Hampshire Field Club & Archaeological Society |url=https://hantsfieldclub.org.uk/ihr100/profiles-a-b/birch.html |access-date=2026-01-04 |website=hantsfieldclub.org.uk}}</ref> He was educated in [[Charterhouse School]] and [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], and started work as curator of western manuscripts in the British Museum in 1864, age 22,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=March 1924 |title=DR. W. de Gray Birch |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/113468b0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=113 |issue=2839 |pages=468–468 |doi=10.1038/113468b0 |issn=1476-4687}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Birch, Walter de Gray, 1842-1924 (curator) {{!}} ArchiveSearch |url=https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/agents/people/5991 |access-date=2026-01-04 |website=archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk}}</ref> transcribing and cataloguing Anglo-Saxon charters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/cartularium-saxonicum/walter-de-gray-birch/9781108045094 |title=Cartularium Saxonicum |publisher=Waterstones |access-date=29 May 2020}}</ref>
== Career == Birch was a prolific author whilst in his position as curator of western manuscripts at the [[British Museum]]. He was a [[Society of Antiquaries of London|Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries]], Member of the [[Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría|Royal Academies of Seville]] and [[:it:Accademia Reale di Torino|Turin]] and honourable member of the [[Hispanic Society of America]]. He held the positions of Honourable Secretary, Editor, vice-president, and Treasurer for many years of the [[British Archaeological Association]].{{citation needed|date=January 2026}}
During his tenure at the British Museum he transcribed and published most of the surviving [[Anglo-Saxon charters|Anglo Saxon Charters]] as the [[Cartularium Saxonicum]] in three volumes between 1885 and 1893, plus an index to named persons in 1899.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Walter de Gray Birch {{!}} Kemble |url=https://dk.robinson.cam.ac.uk/node/171 |access-date=2026-01-04 |website=dk.robinson.cam.ac.uk}}</ref>
In 1902 he left the British Museum to become personal librarian and curator to the [[John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute|4th Marquess of Bute]].<ref name=":0" />
== Death == Birch died in [[Monte Carlo]] on 8 March 1924.<ref name=":0" />
==Notable works== His large output includes: *{{cite book|title=The Saxons in England: A History of the English Commonwealth till the Period of the Norman Conquest |volume=(2 vols) |editor=Walter de Gray Birch |author=John Mitchell Kemble}} *{{cite book|title=A History of [[Neath Abbey]]|author=Walter de Gray Birch |year=1902}} *{{cite book|title=History of the Scottish Seals |volume=(2 vols)|author=Walter de Gray Birch }} *{{cite book|title=Domesday Book: A popular account of the Exchequer Manuscript so called. |volume=(2 vols)|author=Walter de Gray Birch }} * {{Cite book |last=Birch |first=Walter de Gray |url=http://archive.org/details/cartulariumsaxo01bircgoog |title=Cartularium saxonicum: a collection of charters relating to Anglo-Saxon history: AD 430-738 |date=1885 |publisher=Whiting |volume=1 Pt.1 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last=Birch |first=Walter de Gray |url=http://archive.org/details/cartulariumsaxo02bircgoog |title=Cartularium saxonicum: a collection of charters relating to Anglo-Saxon history: AD 741-839 |date=1885 |publisher=Whiting |volume=1 Pt.2 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last=Birch |first=Walter de Gray |url=http://archive.org/details/cartulariumsaxo04bircgoog |title=Cartularium saxonicum: a collection of charters relating to Anglo-Saxon history: AD 840-928 |date=1887 |publisher=Whiting |volume=2 Pt.1 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last=Birch |first=Walter de Gray |url=http://archive.org/details/cartulariumsaxo05bircgoog |title=Cartularium saxonicum: a collection of charters relating to Anglo-Saxon history: AD 928-947 |date=1887 |publisher=Whiting |volume=2 Pt.2 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last=Birch |first=Walter de Gray |url=http://archive.org/details/cartulariumsaxo00bircgoog |title=Cartularium saxonicum: a collection of charters relating to Anglo-Saxon history: AD 948-959 |date=1893 |publisher=Whiting |volume=3 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last=Birch |first=Walter de Gray |url=http://archive.org/details/cartulariumsaxon00bircuoft |title=Inder Saxonicus: An Index to All the Names of Persons in the Cartularium Saxonicum |date=1899 |publisher=Phillimore & Company |location=London}}
== See also ==
* [[List of Anglo-Saxon Charters]] * [[Peter Sawyer (historian)|Peter Sawyer]]
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Walter de Gray}} [[Category:Historians of England]] [[Category:19th-century English historians]] [[Category:1842 births]] [[Category:1924 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century English historians]] [[Category:20th-century English male writers]] [[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]