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Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eld, George

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770662Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 17 — Eld, George1889James Moffat Scott

ELD, GEORGE (1791–1862), antiquary, was born in Coventry in 1791. He carried on business successively as a miller, a silk dealer, and a dyer; he was also for twenty years editor of the 'Coventry Standard.' He was the last mayor of Coventry (1834–5) before the passing of the Municipal Reform Act, and, besides filling other public offices, an alderman of the reformed corporation till his death. During his mayoralty he restored the interior of the mayoresses parlour — an architectural relic of the fourteenth century — and throughout his life he rendered valuable service in preserving and stimulating public appreciation of the antiquities of his native city. He had considerable ability as an artist, and made many fine drawings of ancient buildings and other memorials of the past. He died at Coventry on 22 May 1862, in his seventy-first year.

[Gent. Mag. November 1862.]