Walter George Tarrant (8 April 1875 – 18 March 1942) was a builder born in Brockhurst in the north of the port town of

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England. He is best known as a Surrey master builder and developer of St Georges Hill and the Wentworth Estate in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Biography

In 1895, aged 20, he set up his own building company, W G Tarrant Ltd, in the village of Byfleet, Surrey and in the early 1900s built extensively in adjoining Pyrford, West Byfleet and

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

. The company almost certainly constructed some of the first buildings at nearby

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

. By 1911 his premises in Byfleet covered over five acres and included workshops for joinery, wrought iron and leaded lights, a stonemason's yard, and a timber mill with drying sheds. He also owned nurseries in

Addlestone Addlestone ( or ) is a town in Surrey, England. It is located approximately southwest of London. The town is the administrative centre of the Runnymede (borough), Borough of Runnymede, of which it is the largest settlement. Geography Addlesto ...

and Pyrford and brickfields in

Chobham Chobham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Surrey Heath, Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England. The village has a small high street area, specialising in traditional trades and motor trades. The River Bourne ...

and Rowlands Castle. In 1911 he bought of

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

from the Egertons, the family of Lord Ellesmere which he developed into the

St George's Hill St George's Hill is a private gated community in Weybridge, Surrey, England. Comprising more than 450 properties, the land that is now the contemporary St George's Hill estate was purchased by builder W. G. Tarrant in 1911. Over the followin ...

estate. Tarrant was subsequently responsible for constructing housing in

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a cro ...

, Byfleet, Pyrford,

and also

Virginia Water Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its na ...

where he launched the Wentworth Estate in 1923. During World War I, his company manufactured large numbers of prefabricated wooden huts for military use on the Western Front and also designed and constructed the

Tarrant Tabor The Tarrant Tabor was a British triplane bomber designed towards the end of the First World War and was briefly the world's largest aircraft. It crashed, with fatalities, on its first flight. Development The Tabor was the first and only aircraft ...

six-engined triplane bomber, which crashed at Farnborough aerodrome when attempting its first flight on 26 May 1919. The company employed 5,000 people at Byfleet in the 1920s but towards the end of the decade

the Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

reduced the demand for large expensive houses. However, Tarrant continued to win contracts for many new

council houses A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nation ...

in the Woking area. In August 1931, W G Tarrant Ltd entered receivership but the building department survived, reforming as Tarrant Builders Ltd with Tarrant's eldest son Percy as a director. This company built many houses in Virginia Water before and after World War II and the original company's land became owned by Wentworth Estates Ltd. Around 1940, Tarrant purchased

Hafod Estate The Hafod estate, also known as , is a wooded and landscaped estate in the Ystwyth valley in Ceredigion, Wales. Near Devil's Bridge, Ceredigion, Devil's Bridge, Cwmystwyth and Pont-rhyd-y-groes, it is off the B4574 road. Hafod estate land was ...

at Eglwys Newydd, near

Cwmystwyth Cwmystwyth (also Cwm Ystwyth, ; ) is a village in Ceredigion, Wales near Devil's Bridge, and Pont-rhyd-y-groes. The Ordnance Survey calculates Cwmystwyth to be the centre point of Wales (; ). History Discovery of small, oval-shaped stone ...

above

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

in Wales and moved to live there soon afterwards. He soon began felling trees for use as pit-props for the war-effort and also started to plan the restoration of the neglected mansion there. He died on 18 March 1942 at Hafod Mansion, as a result of a

coronary thrombosis Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart ...

and was buried in the Hafod churchyard.

Biographer

Extensive research into the housebuilding was carried out by Mavis Swenarton who in 1992 described Tarrant as 'a man of vision and enterprise... with a reputation for high quality materials and good workmanship... an imposing figure, over six ft tall and a thick beard which gave him a striking resemblance to King Edward VII'.Swenarton, Mavis (1993) 'W G Tarrant: Master Builder and Developer' (Walton & Weybridge Local History Society, Monograph 54).

Aircraft

References

;Bibliography * Norris, Richard (2008) 'The Life and Works of Walter George Tarrant' (self-published) * Swenarton, Mavis (1992) 'Inventory of Tarrant-Built Houses on St George's Hill' (Walton & Weybridge Local History Society). * Swenarton, Mavis (1994) 'Tarrant-Built Houses in Pyrford Woods' (apparently self-published). ;Citations

External links

The houses that Tarrant built article on findaproperty.comElmbridge Museum - Article 'WG Tarrant: Master Builder and Developer'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarrant, Walter George British construction businesspeople People from Gosport 1875 births 1942 deaths Deaths from coronary thrombosis