Birch was killed on 2 November 1875 by a local Malay chief, Dato Maharajalela and his assistant Seputum, who speared him to death while he was taking bath, nearby a river, in Pasir Salak, near today's Teluk Intan (Teluk Anson).
There is inconsistency as to the reason why Birch was assassinated.
One view is that Birch's assassination was because he outlawed slavery
in Perak. Dato Maharajalela, whose income depended on capturing and
selling the indigenes of Perak or Orang Asli
as slaves, was then incensed and plotted with some of the slave-traders
to kill Birch by spearing him when he was taking his bath in the river.
The more popular view among rightwing Malay historians indicate that
Birch was assassinated because of his disrespect to the local custom and
tradition, and conflict with local Malay chiefs. This is because modern
Malay historians generally refuse to accept that the Orang Asli were
being traded as slaves in the pre-Colonial era. Some accounts claimed
that Birch was arrogant and disrespectful of local customs and the ruling Sultan of Perak, for example by refusing to remove his shoes when he entered the Palace.
To those historians, Dato' Maharajalela is generally celebrated as a
folk hero, due to his substantial contribution and seen to be a symbol
of the Malay resistance against Colonialism.
In the aftermath of the event, the administration shifted to Taiping. Sultan Abdullah was deposed and sent to exile in Seychelles. Dato Maharajalela and others involved in the incident were hanged.
