George Birch

George Henry Birch (1862–1917) was an Australian businessman, best known for co-founding the Birch, Carroll & Coyle cinema chain, with E. J. Carroll, Dan Carroll and Virgil Coyle. Early life Birch was born in Hull, Yorkshire in 1862, but migrated to Australia as a young man, where he commenced work as a customs officer at the Rockhampton Customs Department in Queensland. Hotel management career After his marriage to Mary Ann Cannon on 3 October 1888 Birch resigned from his customs job to begin a career managing hotels, beginning with the Grand Hotel in the seaside village of Emu Park with his wife. From 1892, Birch became the lessee of the Union Hotel and Theatre Royale in Rockhampton before taking over the Criterion Hotel from 1903.