John Birchenough JP (1 November 1825 – 7 May 1895) was an English silk manufacturer and local politician in Macclesfield, Cheshire in the nineteenth century.[1] He was the head of the Macclesfield silk manufacturing firm Birchenough and Sons with mills at Park Lane, Prestbury Road and Henderson Street in Macclesfield. He was a Wesleyan Methodist and was a supporter of local charities in Macclesfield.[2] Birchenough was a member of the Macclesfield Town Council for nearly forty years during a time of great transformation for the town when many public works – such as the waterworks, the cemetery, enlargement of the Town Hall, extensions at the gasworks, and the transformation of the muddy streets into cleanly paved, and hard macadamized roads – were carried out.[3]
Birchenough was a Liberal Unionist and served as Mayor of Macclesfield Town in 1875–76. His portrait hangs in Macclesfield old Town Hall.[4]