BIRKBECK, George, an English physician and philanthropist, born at Settle in Yorkshire in 1776. He early evinced a strong predilection for scientific pursuits; and in 1799, after graduating as doctor of medicine, he was appointed to the chair of natural philosophy at the Andersonian Institution of Glasgow. In the following year he delivered, for the benefit of the working-classes, a gratuitous course of scientific lectures, which were continued during the two following years and proved eminently successful. He removed to London in 1804, and there he endeavoured to prosecute his philanthropic schemes, at first without much encouragement, but ultimately with marked success. In 1827 he contributed to found the Mechanics’ Institute, his coadjutors being Bentham, Wilkie, Cobbett, and others. He was appointed director of the institute, which he had originally endowed with the sum of £3700, and held the office till his death in December 1841.