George Shaw Aitken was born in Oxton, London, England on 12 March 1836 and was articled to John Dick Peddie (1824-1891) and Charles George Hood Kinnear (1830-1894) of Peddie & Kinnear in Edinburgh, Scotland until c.1860. From c.1860 to c.1867 he lived in Manchester and in Eccles. Lancashire, and during this period worked as an assistant to Alfred Waterhouse (1830-1905) and in 1866 was briefly in partnership with his brother, Robert Walker Aitken (1840?-1909) as Aitken & Aitken. By c.1867 he had returned to Scotland and from c.1867 to c.1873 worked as chief assistant to James Maclaren (1829-1893) in Dundee.
From 1873 he was in partnership with Maclaren as Maclaren & Aitken. The partnership was dissolved in 1879 and thereafter Aitken continued in independent practice in Dundee until 1881 when he returned to Edinburgh. In 1890 he was appointed lecturer on the History of Architecture at the Heriot Watt College in Edinburgh.
Aitken was one of the founders of the Edinburgh Architectural Association in 1858, and was elected its first president. He was an accomplished watercolourist and exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh between 1880 and 1910. He died in Liberton, Scotland on 29 August 1921
Country houses — Craig-gowan, Ballinard, Tircarra, Ethelstone, and Corona, Forfarshire; Ryehill Church, Dundee; Queen Street Church, Broughty Ferry; reconstructed Bank of Scotland and North of Scotland Bank, Dundee; premises for Y.M.C.A., Brechin; extensions to Bearehill House, Brechin; extensions to Gracemount and St. Catherine's Mansions, Edinburgh; restoration of Lady Stair's house, for Lady Rosebery, and other old Edinburgh mansions, conjointly with Prof. Patrick Geddes. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914.
____
See also:
Dictionary of Scottish Architects 1660-1980 [link below]
Historic Environments Scotland [link below]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Dunbar-Nasmith, James. 'George S. Aitken. President, 1858-59'. Edinburgh Architectural Association Yearbook vol. 3, 1959 pp. 73-75
‘Obituary’. Architectural Review vol. 50, October 1921 p. xlvi
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 121, 9 September 1921 p. 321
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914