Henry Birks was born 30 November 1840 in Montreal. He was educated at Montreal High School, before joining a jewellery firm as a junior. By the time he had been working there for 11 years he was made a junior partner. He then decided to build a shop of his own, and with business flourishing he soon added shops in Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax, Winnipeg, Toronto and elsewhere in Canada. He travelled widely and was a regular visitor to London, Sheffield and Birmingham. He married Harriet Phillips Walker on 16 January 1868, and they had 3 children:
He died on 16 April 1928 after building up the famous Birks jewellery chain of stores.
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