BIRKENHEAD, SIR JOHN, a political writer, born about 1615. He suffered imprisonment several times during the Commonwealth, for writing in favour of the exiled king. He was one of the earliest English journalists, having conducted a kind of weekly gazette, entitled Mercurius Aulicus, in one or more quarto leaves, from 1st January 1642 until the end of 1645. At the Restoration he received various preferments for his loyalty, and was elected member of parliament for Wilton. He died in 1679.