Elkington, George Richards (1801–1865)

English inventor. He pioneered the use of electroplating for finishing metal objects. With his cousin Henry Elkington (1810–1852), he explored the alternatives to traditional methods of plating from about 1832. The process of plating base metals with silver and gold by electrodeposition was announced in a patent taken out by the Elkington cousins in 1840.

In 1841 they established a workshop for electroplating in Birmingham, and successfully patented their ideas in France. George Elkington also established large copper-smelting works in South Wales, providing houses for his workers and schools for their children.

Elkington was born in Birmingham and in 1818 he became an apprentice in the local small-arms factory; in due course he became its proprietor.