View source for Edward Wheler Bird

{{EngvarB|date=June 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
'''Edward Wheler Bird''' (16 April 1823<ref>{{cite journal |title=Births |journal=Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies |date=1823 |volume=16 |page=607 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8Z9yoVJJ3wC&q=bird |access-date=1 June 2023 |publisher=Black, Parbury, & Allen |language=en}}</ref> – 21 May 1903) was a British civil servant in the [[Indian Civil Service]].

He was born in [[Trichinopoly District|Trichinopoly]], [[British India]],<ref name="1901census">''1901 England Census''</ref> in 1823, the son of John Bird, a provincial judge,{{r|Katz}} and Mary.<ref>''India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947''</ref> 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 language|Tamil]] scholar."{{r|School}}  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, [[Machilipatnam|Masulipatam]]."{{r|Register}}{{secondary source needed|date=May 2020}}

In 1868, he retired from civil service and moved to [[Bristol]], where he became involved in various missionary organizations, including the [[Church's Ministry Among Jewish People|London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews]] and the [[British and Foreign Bible Society|Bible Society]].{{r|Katz}}

Bird became active in the [[British Israelism|British Israelite Movement]] in 1874, after having read a book by [[John Wilson (historian)|John Wilson]].{{r|Katz}} 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.{{r|Kidd|p=209}} He oversaw an excavation of the [[Hill of Tara]] that caused irreparable damage in the early years of the 20th century.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

He died at his home, Woodcote Villa, in [[Tyndall's Park]], [[Bristol]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Deaths |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002164/19030528/053/0015 |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=Clifton Society |date=28 May 1903 |page=15 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Katz">{{cite book
|last=Katz
|first=David S.
|author-link=David S. Katz
|editor1-last=Fiering
|editor1-first=Norman
|editor1-link=Norman Fiering
|editor2-last=Bernardini
|editor2-first=Paolo
|title=The Jews and the Expansion of Europe to the West, 1450 to 1800
|publisher=[[Berghahn Books]]
|date=2001
|location=New York, NY
|chapter=Chapter 5: Israel in America: The Wanderings of the Lost Ten Tribes from Mikveigh Yisrael to Timothy McVeigh
|isbn=1-57181-153-2
|page=114
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0JAGMuePO0C
|access-date=18 February 2021
}}</ref>
<ref name="School">{{cite book
|author=University College School
|title=Alphabetical and Chronological Register for 1831-1891
|publisher=H. Walton Lawrence
|date=1892
|location=London
|page=63
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gZpQAAAAYAAJ
|access-date=18 February 2021
}}</ref>
<ref name="Register">{{cite book
|title=East-India Register and Army List
|publisher=W.H. Allen & Co.
|date=1853
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WRkoAAAAYAAJ
|access-date=18 February 2021
}}</ref>
<ref name="Kidd">{{cite book
|last=Kidd
|first=Colin
|author-link=Colin Kidd
|title=The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600-2000
|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|location=Cambridge
|date=2006
|isbn=978-0-521-79729-0
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aNT3q1HjY_MC
|access-date=18 February 2021
}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qcjXAAAAMAAJ |title= Tara and the Ark of the Covenant |first1= Mairéad |last1= Carew |publisher= [[Royal Irish Academy]] |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-0954385521}}

==See also==
*[[Edward Hine]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Edward Wheeler}}
[[Category:1823 births]]
[[Category:1903 deaths]]
[[Category:British Israelism]]


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