Charles Napier Birks was born in Knutsford, near Manchester, England and emigrated with his parents Hannah Napier Birks and Dr. George Vause Birks and family on the Leonidas, arriving at Glenelg, South Australia in December 1853. They settled in Angaston, where his father began practising. He died four years later, as a result of being thrown from his horse. Mrs Birks then ran a store in Angaston, assisted by her sons William and George, who as W. H & G. N. Birks later opened a stationery shop and Birks Chemists in Rundle Street. ;Charles Birks & Co. David Robin and Charles Birks, as Robin & Birks, took over the "London House" drapery shop at 89 Hindley Street from George Shaw in October 1864. Their next takeover was J. Ballantyne & Co.'s store at 38 Rundle Street in October 1871. The partnership was dissolved on 24 January 1876, when Robin took over the Hindley Street store, which in 1882/83 he sold to Joseph Henry Pellew. Charles took the Rundle Street property, which he rebranded Charles Birks', and, assisted by Harry Ingham, spared no expense in establishing the store at the upper end of the market. In 1879 he took his brother Walter Richard Birks and William Honeywill into partnership, in 1881 rebranding the business as Charles Birks & Co.; Henry Joseph Bailey and George Mowat were later admitted. Charles Birks retired from active involvement in 1884; Bailey and Mowat retired in 1886, and George bought out Walter's share shortly after. In 1888 a major building expansion was undertaken, at a cost of £25,000, perhaps $3M in today's values. In 1893 Charles's son Napier Kyffin Birks was taken on as an office boy, then in 1900 was made a partner, then sole proprietor when Charles relinquished his share in 1908. In 1913 Napier Birks purchased the whole of the Rundle Street frontage from Stephens Place to Gawler Place, and rebuilt the store. He appointed Frank Edward Cornish, who had been with the firm since age 12, as general manager, and when he enlisted in the Great War in July 1915 put Cornish in charge. The firm was restructured as a limited liability company in late 1920, with Cornish appointed a director. Two new partners who bought into the company were Edmund Arnold Farr and William Gilbert Hayes. In 1932 the company purchased the warehouse of Good, Toms & Co., increasing the total floor area to, and increasing Charles Birks & Co.'s frontage along Stephens Place and Gawler Place. The business was acquired by David Jones Limited in 1954.
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Family
For details on the extended family see George Vause Birks.
Charles Napier Birks, generally known as Charles Birks, married Mary Maria Thomas on 13 September 1866; they had six children. He married again, to Rosetta Jane "Rose" Thomas on 8 March 1879. Mary and Rose were first and fifth daughters of William Kyffin Thomas. He married once more, to Alice May Hone, a sister of Dr. F. S. Hone, on 11 September 1913, lived "Felton", Lefevre Terrace, North Adelaide, then from 1914 at "Avonlea", 26 Northcote Tce., Gilberton. She married again, to George E. Goodhart, on 20 December 1926.
