George Ivatt was born in Dublin, Ireland, and educated at Uppingham School, England.

After the war, he became Assistant Locomotive Superintendent of the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) at Stoke-on-Trent in 1919.

He returned to England in 1937 as Principal Assistant for Locomotives to the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME), William Stanier.

When Fairburn died suddenly in October 1945, a new shortlist was prepared and George Ivatt, the senior candidate, with significant LMS locomotive experience, was appointed CME on 1 February 1946.

As CME in post-war austerity Britain, Ivatt continued to build standard existing LMS locomotive types for which parts were readily available.