Burke was born on 15 June 1893 at Newgrove House, Rathnavogue near Roscrea, County Tipperary. He was the eldest son of Tobias Henry Burke, a farmer originally from Burkington, Borrisoleigh, and Bridget Agnes Quinlan, daughter of Patrick Quinlan of Cummer, Kilcommon. In 1905 the Burke family emigrated to the United States, settling in New York, where his father Tobias had inherited property. During his children, two of Burkers older brothers died of scarlatina.[2] The Burkes returned to Ireland in 1908 and acquired Rockforest, also in County Tipperary.
Although Burke was called to the bar in 1916, he chose to focus on politics instead of pursuing a legal career. Burke joined the Irish Volunteers in Dublin and became a Sinn Féin organiser and Volunteer drill instructor in Tipperary. After being arrested for illegal drilling in 1918 and refusing to recognise the court, he was imprisoned in Belfast for four months. Later that year, he was elected unopposed to represent mid-Tipperary for Sinn Féin in the 1918 general election as a Sinn FéinTD for Tipperary Mid.[3] Dubbed "the most hunted man in Ireland" by the Irish Independent, Burke was smuggled to the USA in November 1918 as a stoker aboard the RMS Aquitania. In New York and Ohio Burke was the director of the loan campaign, for which he is said to have collected over a million dollars.[4]
Upon returning to Ireland in 1919 during the War of Irish Independence, he worked for the Dáil Department of Local Government, drawing the ire of British Chief Secretary Ian MacPherson, who imposed martial law on Tipperary, partly attributing it to Burke’s activities. Burke was reputedly involved in an attack on Borrisoleigh barracks during one of the last actions of the War of Independence.[5] In c. early 1922 Burke was also the only Tipperary TD to support the Anglo-Irish Treaty in the Dáil.[4][2]
Burke was elected at the top of the polls in the 1922 general election and 1923 general election and served as Minister for Local Government and Public Health from 15 October 1923 to 23 June 1927.[2] During his tenure, the Local Government Act of 1925 reorganised local authorities, abolishing rural districts and replacing 19 local authorities with county commissioners. Burke initiated the abolition of workhouses and the national trunk road scheme. In March 1926, he dismissed Labour’s demands to amend the Unemployment Insurance Acts as utopian.[4]
In 1927, Burke was demoted to Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, overseeing the Office of Public Works, to accommodate Richard Mulcahy's return to the cabinet. His notable achievement in this role was the National Monuments Act of 1930, which established legal protections for national monuments. In opposition, Burke supported the Blueshirts and European fascist movements for a time and criticised the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, arguing it would allow Fianna Fáil to undermine press freedom and individual rights. After losing his seat in the 1938 general election, Burke ran unsuccessfully as an independent in 1943.[4]
Personal life
In 1929 Burke married Zenaide Bashkiroff, the eldest daughter of Captain Alexis Bashkiroff, a gentleman of the chamber to Tsar Nicholas II, and Zenaide Soumarokoff-Elston, the daughter of Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston.[2] Zenaide was a cousin of Prince Felix Yusupov, known for his role in the assassination of Rasputin. Growing up with an Irish governess, Zenaide moved to Ireland for her secondary education before attending an agricultural college in England. After the family relocated to England, she pursued a career in ceramic art and became a recognised artist in the field. The couple had one daughter.[4]
Burke was connected to several notable figures, including John Daly Burk, Thomas Burke (the stepfather of W. T. Cosgrave), Seán Treacy, and Richard Burke, who served as Minister for Education (1973–1976) and as a European Commissioner. At the time of his death on 10 June 1967 in Farnham Hospital, Burke was residing in Camberley, Surrey. His published works include Foundations of Peace (1920), Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontent (1937), and Eire Tomorrow: A Sociological Survey (c.1943).[4]
