George Birch & Co. of Manchester, England, made, from the late 1800s  and into the early years of the 20th century, a range smaller machine tools including lathes, shapers, vertical slotters and a range of quite ordinary lathes and backgeared and plain horizontal milling machines. Although the majority of Birch machines might have been relatively prosaic - and sold primarily for use in ordinary shops - they also made a number of beautifully constructed and complex lathes for ornamental turning.
If you have a Birch machine tool and would like to contribute photographs or technical details, the writer would be very interested to hear from you..