Geoffrey Woolsey Birks was born in Leeds, Yorkshire. He attended Bradford Collage of Art for 2 years as a full-time student and studied privately in the tuition of F.C. Jones RA. He worked mainly in the textile trade in the industrial towns of Yorkshire and the North of England, rising to the position of Production Director.

Realising that the Northern industrial scene was in decline along with it's inherent characters, and skyline, he decided to capture some of these fast disappearing aspects of the past. In doing so he 'caught' the humour and atmosphere of the Northern character both in the people and landscape. His 'trademark' beijng his version of a black cat which appears somewhere in all his pictures.

He was an internationally known artist, having exhibited his work in the U.K., Canada, U.S.A., Australia and South Africa. After a long fight against cancer throughout which he continued business as usual he died at his home in Pudsey in December 1993.