Born in 1854, George Harry Whitaker was brought up in Pond Street, the son of Robert (a file smith and tobacconist – and later file manager) and his wife, Elizabeth.  As a teenager, George was trained as a merchant’s clerk, but by 1881 was describing himself as a silversmith.  In 1883, he registered a silver mark under his own name from Pool Square, Fargate.  He remained there until 1886 (when he added ‘& Co’ to his name), and then relocated to Westfield Terrace.  Between 1892 and 1908, his firm was in Cavendish Street and Convent Walk.  Whitaker sold the usual range of silver and electro-plated table cutlery, such as fish carvers and spoons.  The business apparently ceased trading in 1911, when the address was Wheeldon Street.   In that year, the Census enumerated Whitaker at Kew, Surrey, where he was an agent in silver and electro-plate ‘on his own account’.  He may have died in 1938.