Stanley Birkett was the son of the Manchester architect Isiah Robert Edmondson Birkett. He was born in Manchester in 1884 and studied at the Manchester School of Architecture under Professor Stewart Capper. He passed his qualifying exam in 1910 and was admitted as an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1911. He went into partnership with his father as I R E Birkett & Son. He became sole partner in the firm in 1923. He is known for designing the Refuge Assurance Office in Glasgow in 1932.