Group   

George Bird and family

Categories: Property

George Bird and family

Builders and brick makers in West London. Considering their contribution to many prominent projects (listed on the plaque), it is surprising that there is no information available on them.

We first published this in July 2011 but subsequently our colleague, Andrew Behan, has undertaken some research on the family. He could find no image of the Bird family, but instead we have used a transcription of George Bird's will which we think proves this to be the people concerned.

George Bird was born on 29 March 1774 in Ship Lane, Hammersmith, the third of the eight children of William Bird (1745-1788) and Elizabeth Bird née Knight (1744-1815). On 24 April 1774 he was baptised at the Church of Saint Mary, St Marylebone Road, St Marylebone, London.

His siblings were: Ann Sophia Bird (b.1766), Elizabeth Bird (b.1771), William Bird (1776-1884), Sarah Bird (1779-1836), Stephen Knight Bird (1780-1865), Thomas Bird (1783-1790) and Richard Henry Bird (1787-1787). After the death of his father in 1788, his widowed mother was remarried to a man called Stubbs and had three further children.

On 1 October 1803 he married Mary Wright (1785-1857) at St Botolph's Church, Aldgate, London, where the marriage register shows that they were both of this parish. In 1804 he was assessed to pay 15 shillings as Land Tax in the Hamlet of Hammersmith for property north of the Great Western Road. Also in that he year he was initiated as Freemason into the Caveac Lodge No.232 that met in the Angel Public House, King Street West, Hammersmith and he was recorded in their register as aged 30 years, a bricklayer, residing in Hammersmith.

He and his wife were to have ten children: William Bird (1805-1864), James Bird (1807-1868), Thomas Bird (1809-1847), Frederick Bird (1810-1871), Charles Bird (1813-1883), John Bird (1816-1881), Edward Bird (1817-1899), Caroline Bird (1820-1892), Alfred Bird (1821-1884) and Mary Bird (1825-1907).

On 19 October 1819 both he and his brother William Bird were admitted into the Freedom of the City of London by the redemption of £2-6s-8d each. They were both described as bricklayers residing in Hammersmith and on 25 January 1820 both were admitted into the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers.

The 1838 electoral register lists him and his brother William as voters by means of being copyholders of a house and land in Brook Green, Hammersmith. His son, William was also eligible to vote by also residing in Brook Green but owning freehold land in Blythe Lane, Hammersmith. His son James, who lived in Sussex Place (now called Redan Street), Hammersmith was also registered to vote by owing copyhold tenements in Simpson's Place & Queen Street (now called Queen Caroline Street), Hammersmith.

In the 1841 census he is described as a builder living at Brook Green, Hammersmith, with his wife and two of their sons: Frederick, a coachmaker and Edward, a builder, together with two female servants. When the 1851 census was compiled he was shown as builder & brickmaker employing 200 men, still residing in Brook Green, Hammersmith, with his wife, their son John, who was also described as a builder, their daughter Mary, together with a cook and a housemaid.

He died, aged 77 years, on 6 July 1851 and was buried on 12 July 1851 in St Paul's Churchyard, Hammersmith.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
George Bird and family

Commemorated ati

The Bird Family

2019: The Hammersmith and Fulham Historic Buildings Group tell us that this p...

Read More

Other Subjects

T. H. Adamson & Sons

T. H. Adamson & Sons

Builders active in 1887. Andrew Behan’s research has discovered: From Wandsworth Heritage Service: "T H Adamson & Sons was founded around 1790 in Chiswick, by Thomas Adamson, and was re-named ...

Group, Property

1 memorial
Portman family

Portman family

in 1532 Sir William Portman of Somerset, Lord Chief Justice to Henry VIII acquired land covering an area of 270 acres stretching from Oxford Street to Regents Canal. A large part of this land, no...

Group, Friend / family, Property

1 memorial
Haberdashers Place

Haberdashers Place

Built on green fields in 1802. Destroyed by enemy action on 11th May 1941 and re-built in 1952, architect Terence C. Page.

Building, Property

2 memorials
Nicholas Barbon

Nicholas Barbon

Builder and economist, a key figure in the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. Laid out Essex Street in 1675. Also redeveloped Red Lion Fields and the Temple. It seems he was an extrovert ro...

Person, Architecture, Politics & Administration, Property

1 memorial
Stimpson & Co

Stimpson & Co

Builders of the 1892 Westminster Public Baths and Wash-houses.  

Group, Property

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Thomas Rainsborough

Thomas Rainsborough

Grew up in Wapping.  A spokesman for the Levellers and a colonel in the New Model Army.  Killed by a Royalist raiding party during the siege of Pontefract.  The Levellers arranged for his funeral, ...

Person, Armed Forces, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
DNA structure discovery

DNA structure discovery

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. Although the discovery of its double heli...

Event, Science

3 memorials