Burke, Edmund (1729-1797), a British statesman, influenced the history of Britain and many other countries. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1765 until 1794 and frequently spoke his mind on major issues. Burke was a productive author and a powerful orator. Besides essays on politics, he wrote a book on aesthetics, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757).
During the American Revolutionary period, he repeatedly urged the British government to conciliate the colonies. He believed that the colonists should be allowed to enjoy all the rights of British citizens.
Burke was born on Jan. 12, 1729, in Dublin, Ireland. He worked for betterment of English-Irish relations and Irish conditions, and opposed the slave trade. He achieved fame in his attempt to improve British administration in India (see Hastings, Warren).
Although he had worked to limit the power of British royalty, Burke bitterly criticized the French Revolution (1789-1799). He denounced its injustice to individuals, attacks on religion, and attempts to build a completely new social order. He expressed hostility in parliamentary speeches and writings, chiefly in Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), which greatly influenced British policy and opinion. His ideas became the philosophy of the Conservative Party. Burke died on July 9, 1797.
