He was the elder son of Peter Burke of Elm Hall, County Tipperary,[2] by his first wife, Anne, daughter and coheiress of Matthew Dowdall, M.D., of Mullingar.
[3] In accordance with a family arrangement, his younger brother Joseph succeeded to the estate at the father's death on 13 January 1836.
For the first time such a work was arranged alphabetically, as opposed to in the Ahnentafel or genealogical-table style, and peers and baronets were treated together.
A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance, was first published by Burke in 1831 (3rd edit.
[3] The title was altered in the later editions to A Dictionary of the Landed Gentry and a supplementary volume appeared in 1844, containing corrigenda and a general index.