ELKINGTON, GEORGE RICHARDS founder of the electro-plating industry in England, was born in Birmingham on Oct. 17, 1801, the son of a spectacle manufac turer. Apprenticed to his uncles, silver platers in Birmingham, he became, on their death, sole proprietor of the business, but subse quently took his cousin, Henry Elkington, into partnership. The Elkingtons had already taken out certain patents for the applica tion of electricity to metals when, in 1840, John Wright, a Bir mingham surgeon, discovered the properties of a solution of cya nide of silver in cyanide of potassium for electro-plating purposes. The Elkingtons purchased and patented Wright's process, subse quently acquiring the rights of other processes and improvements. George Richards Elkington died on Sept. 22, 1865, and Henry Elkington on Oct. 26, 1852.