An A-Z of Architects of Loughborough
For a complete list of the A-Z posts
please head over to the bloglist.
Letter
T in the A-Z blogging challenge throws up many choices! I will struggle to
provide relevant posts for some of the final letters of the alphabet, so in
case I do fall short, let’s have a look into a couple of architects for letter T!
Short
biography of Frank Tranmer
Frank
was born in 1887 to Henry, a grocer, and Martha Kate, née Luck, in Scarborough.
He grew up on Candler Street, where his father was a grocer, and upon his father’s
early death, when Frankl was only 10, the business was continued by his mother.
[Check out Candler Street on a street view map: No. 41, where the Tranmers are
said to have lived, looks like an ordinary house, whereas No. 43 has distinct
signs of once being a corner shop – a ghost sign and a hanging sign frame on the
side wall, and a new brick wall.]
In
1913, Frank married Ida Dorothy Emerson in Harrogate. The couple went on to
have children, Dorothy in 1915, and Eric in 1920. Eric sadly died at the age of
24 in a flying accident during the Second World War.
Shortly
after the end of the First World War, Frank joined the architectural practice
of Samuel Stead, who had founded the company just before the start of the war,
when he retired from the position of borough engineer for Harrogate. Samuel
then retired from his newly formed company in 1922.
In
1925, Frank designed a new school for Loughborough, which was in what was once
part of the grounds of Limehurst House. In 1930, The Yorkshire Post described
one of Frank’s new buildings:
“Parochial
halls are usually more utilitarian than beautiful, and it is pleasing to find
in Harrogate, on a prominent site on the busy Leeds Road, a building which
combines both qualities. In place of the corrugated iron room which stood in
the grounds of St Mark’s church, and spoiled one of its characteristic aspects,
the new parochial hall, designed by Mr Frank Tranmer of Harrogate, is a notable
addition to the smaller architectural treasures of the town.”
Frank,
who resided at 34 Park Parade, Harrogate, died on 17 March 1938, and his personal
effects were £5,269 13s. 8d.
Until
Franks’ death, the architectural practice was based in Westminster Chambers,
Station Parade, Harrogate. Following his death, the practice moved to Victoria Avenue,
Harrogate, and was run by architects Eric Brown and Harry Bailey, who joined in
1937 and 1938 respectively.
____________________________________
What follows is a selection of
buildings designed by Frank Tranmer
Note: this is a selective, not a
comprehensive listing.
____________________________________
*Limehurst
School (1925, opened 1931)
*Norton
Church House, attached to St Peter’s church, Norton on Derwent, Malton, Yorks.
* Parochial
Hall for St Mark’s church, Harrogate (1930)
*Rest homes
(almshouses) for Mr Kirby, Driffield (1933)
____________________________________
Basic facts
Name: Frank Tranmer
Parents: Henry (1860-1897) and Martha Kate Luck
(1859-1948), m.1883
Date
and place of Birth: 1887,
Scarborough
Spouse: Ida Dorothy Emerson (1887-1984),
m.1913, Harrogate
Children: Dorothy Phyllis (1915); Eric William (an
architect) (1920-1944)
Places
lived: 41 Candler
Street, Scarborough; Park Parade, Harrogate
Place
of work/Offices: Station
Parade, Harrogate
Qualifications
Associate
of RIBA 1920
Fellow
of RIBA 1933
____________________________________
Short
biography of Walter John Tapper
Walter
John Tapper, born in 1861 in Bovey Tracey, is one of those nationally well-known
architects who played an important role in designing one of Loughborough’s
buildings. Others, whom I could have written about in earlier blogposts include
Thomas Rickman (Emmanuel Church); William Slater (the Corn Exchange/Town Hall,
and the Baxter Gate Dispensary); William Railton (the Bavarian Gates, and
several of the lodge houses at Garendon Park); Arthur William Blomfield (Holy
Trinity church) – and more!
Walter
Tapper’s work was predominantly but not exclusively on church buildings,
including St Mary’s in Harrogate, St Erkenwald’s in Southend, and St Stephen’s
in Grimsby. Other work included Bicton Hall, Devon; Eartham Grange,
Worcestershire, and Shipley Hall, Derbyshire, which, I think, was once home to
the American Adventure theme park.
In
Loughborough, Walter Tapper was the architect chosen to design the iconic
Carillon Tower and War Memorial, in 1921, although his first design was rejected
as being rather too expensive. Building work started in November 1921, the
foundation stone was laid in January 1922, and the building was officially
opened in July 1923. What is amazing about this building is that it was a truly
local affair, the idea for such a war memorial being supported by citizens and officials
of the town, and the structure being created with local trades and local
materials. This is what I wrote in ‘Loughborough in 50 Buildings’:
“Queen’s
Park is the perfect setting for Loughborough’s unusual war memorial. The Grade
II Listed Carillon Tower, built following public consultation, provides a
lasting memorial to local people who perished in the First World War. Heanor
chose a memorial hospital, Quorn a memorial garden, other towns a stained-glass
church window, or other monument: Loughborough chose to honour its dead by
building a towering structure housing a carillon. The bells would be
reminiscent of those more commonly found in Belgium: many of those to whom the
Carillon is dedicated, fell at Ypres.
Walter
Tapper, the architect appointed to design the edifice, was a contemporary of
Sir George Gilbert Scott, and most noted for his churches. In the latter part
of his career Tapper was a President of the Royal Institute of British
Architects.
The
construction of the tower was a most local affair: built by Moss, of bricks by
Tuckers; steelwork by Herbert Morris, and the bells of the carillon made by
Taylors Bellfounders.
A
Portland stone base and window dressing, with pointing of Portland cement
complement the local materials. At 151 feet tall, the Tower weighs a total of
1,300 tons. The main gallery projecting from the body of the tower, is
surrounded by sixteen columns which support the roof, and an octagonal gallery
with a turret, topped by a cupola roof, rise from this gallery. Access is
through the large wooden doors at ground level, and then via the spiral stone
stairs.
The
foundation stones were laid in 1922 by General Lord Horne and Mrs J. T. Godber,
and the memorial unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Robertson on Sunday 22nd
July, 1923. In 1928 a stone balustrade around the base of the tower was added,
and in 1981 floodlighting was presented by descendants of the Tucker family.”
____________________________________
What follows is a selection of
buildings designed by Walter John Tapper
Note: this is a selective, not a
comprehensive listing.
____________________________________
*Alterations
to York Minster
*Alterations
to Westminster Abbey
*St Mary’s
church, Harrogate
*St Stephen’s, Grimsby.
*Bicton Hall, Devon
*Eartham Grange, Worcestershire
*Shipley Hall, Derbyshire
*Carillon Tower and War Memorial,
Loughborough (1921/3)
____________________________________
Basic facts
Name: Walter John Tapper
Parents: George (1816-1877) and Elizabeth, née
Medland (1818-1881)
Date
and place of Birth: 21
April 1861, Bovey Tracey, Devon
Spouse: Catherine Jotcham, m.1886, St Mary’s Islington
Children: Michael John (became an architect) (1886-1963);
Kathleen (1890-1977)
Death: 21 September 1935, Westminster;
buried in the west cloister of Westminster Abbey
Places
lived: Bovey Tracey; Clerkenwell;
Gray’s Inn Square, London’ Hornsey Middlesex; St John’s Wood; Dean’s Yard, Westminster
Qualifications
Associate
of RIBA 1889
Fellow
of RIBA 1912
Associate
of the Royal Academy 1926
President
of RIBA 1927-1929
Royal
Academician 1935
Knighted
1935
____________________________________
I’m taking part in the April A-Z
Blogging Challenge!
____________________________________
Posted by
lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for
typos which are all mine!
_______________________________________________
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(2026). So Who Is our Letter T? Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/04/so-who-is-our-letter-t.html [Accessed 23 April 2026]
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