Thomas Birch (1608 – 5 August 1678) was an English landowner, soldier and radical Puritan who fought for Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1649 and 1658. Part of a large Puritan family, many of whom also served in the Parliamentarian army, Birch played a significant role in securing Lancashire during the First English Civil War. He was governor of Liverpool from 1644 to 1655, and helped suppress the Royalist rising in the North-West during the 1651 Third English Civil War. Unlike many of his colleagues, who were moderate Presbyterians, Birch was associated with the religious Independents who dominated the New Model Army, and included Oliver Cromwell. As a result, he was the dominant force in Lancashire under the Commonwealth. However, he increasingly moderated his political views and was excluded from the 1656 to 1658 Second Protectorate Parliament as a result. After The Restoration of Charles II in 1660, he retired from public life and lived quietly in Liverpool, where he died on 5 August 1678. Biography Thomas Birch was born around 5 June 1608 in Birch Hall, Rusholme, now part of Manchester, eldest son of John Birch (1581–1611) and Anne Hey. He also had a sister, Anne. His father died in 1611 when he was three years old; in 1641, his property was assessed as bringing in £250 per year, a substantial sum for the period. In 1623, he married Alice Brooke (died 1697); their ten children included five sons, Thomas (1629–1700), George (died after 1697), Matthew, Andrew (1652–?) and his twin Peter (1652–1710), who later became a Tory and Church of England priest. Their five daughters were Anne, Alice, Mary, Elena, and Deborah (died after 1710). Career Wars of the Three Kingdoms Little is known of his career prior to the outbreak of the First English Civil War in 1642; he had numerous relatives in the Manchester area, mostly Presbyterians who supported the Parliamentarian cause, including Colonel John Birch. Although North-West England was largely Royalist, Manchester was a Parliamentarian stronghold; in June 1642, Birch was named Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire and raised a regiment of infantry. One of the first clashes of the war took place on 15 July when the Earl of Derby, Royalist leader in the North-West, tried to capture the arms store at Manchester. He was repulsed by Birch, beginning a rivalry