George Birch

trading c1821 – 1857

 

George Birch was born on 7th May 1796 to John and Catherine Birch, and christened at Old Church, St. Pancras.  A younger brother David Baynes Birch was born on 31^st December 1799.

 

George Birch was apprenticed in the Blacksmiths' Company to a well-known London scalemaker, Robert Wenborn, and freed in February 1821.

 

His business traded from 37 Chichester Place, which was included in Grays Inn Road in the 1850s and re-numbered as 319 Grays Inn Road.

 

George was also a gas fitter, and Thomas Herbert kept that side of the firm going after he purchased the business for £200 in 1857.

 

According to George Herbert, writing in 1921, George Birch emigrated to New Zealand, and ‘the business eventually proved to be a good investment'.