it seems to agree haha:

> The sense of "sack, dismiss from employment" is recorded by 1877 (with out; 1879 alone) in American English.

> Research had found a firm called Thomas Austin Brick & Tile Makers, based at Clay Hills, Stoke-on-Trent in 1820

Thomas Austin in 1820 "discharged" the employee. And Stoke-on-Trent is in Britain.

layer8 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Maybe he was really an electrician.

Probably the first one then, electricity was still in the research stage at that time.

	▲	smelendez 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The parent comment was a pun on discharge but incidentally Ben Franklin is often called the first electrician and credited with coining the term.

its a long way across the pond, and you know how stories go when they travel :)