Sapper Arthur Charles TARRANT
Royal Engineers (303rd Railway Construction Company) 20585, 220947
Arthur Tarrant 1881-1957
Arthur was born on 11 May 1881 at Blackwater in Hampshire, the son of John Tarrant, a garden labourer, and his wife Ellen. He came to Northamptonshire to find work as a steam roller driver and he was a boarder with Ann and William Frisby in School Road, Spratton. On 19 June 1911 he married a Spratton girl, Emma Florence Manning. A son, John Henry*, was born on 22 March 1912 and a second son, Reginald Charles, was born on 3 March 1914.
On 15 December 1916 Arthur enlisted in Northampton and he was called up for active service with the Royal Engineers a few weeks later, on 4 January 1917 aged 35. His occupation as a steam roller driver almost certainly directed him towards his army job as a Sapper with the Royal Engineers Railway Construction Company. At the enlistment his medical classification was B2. He was discharged on 22 March 1919 and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
In his son John’s memoirs he said that he remembered that his father had fought in France, but he refused to talk about his dreadful experiences afterwards. He remembered that his mother worked for Mr and Mrs Moorhouse at Spratton Grange and his father did some gardening work there as well. He used to mow a piece of very flat ground near to the Grange that William Rhodes-Moorhouse used as a landing strip for his early flying machines. Arthur died in Spratton in the autumn of 1957.
*John Henry Tarrant’s memories are recorded in ‘Memories of Old Spratton’ by Enid Jarvis and Michael Heaton, 2007, Spratton Local History Society.
EXPLORE SECTIONS
MEN WHO SERVED
- Private Charles Herbert AUSTIN (known as Herbert)
- Corporal Frank AUSTIN
- Lance Corporal James William AUSTIN
- Private John Samuel AUSTIN
- Sergeant William Henry AUSTIN
- Sergeant Bertie Henry BALDERSON
- Corporal Frederick Charles BALDERSON MM
- Lance Corporal Robert Samuel BALDERSON
- Private George William BUCKBY (known as William)
- Private Henry Andrew BUCKBY
- Richard Henry Horne BUCKBY
- Transport Sergeant Thomas BUCKBY MM
- Company Quartermaster Sergeant William Gander BUCKBY
- William Archibald COPSON (known as Archibald)
- Sapper Ebenezer COPSON
- Private Ernest Edward COPSON
- Pioneer Henry Owman COPSON (known as Harry)
- Private James COPSON
- Private John William COPSON
- Private Joseph COPSON
- Private Arthur Sidney GOODEN (known as Sidney)
- Private Hugh Henry GOODEN
- Sergeant Joseph Eric GOODEN (known as Eric)
- Private Arthur Thomas HAYTER
- Driver Frank Leonard HAYTER
- Private Harold Herbert HAYTER
- Lance Corporal John Charles HAYTER DCM (known as Jack)
- Private Walter Ernest HAYTER
- Ordinary Seaman Arthur Charles HORNE
- Private John William HORNE (known as William)
- Lance Corporal Lewis HORNE
- Private Thomas HORNE
- Driver John Henry LEESON
- Corporal Joseph Henry LEESON (known as Harry)
- Thomas Baden Powell LEESON (known as ‘Bard’)
- Private Albert MANNING
- Corporal Amos MANNING
- Private Arthur Cecil MANNING
- Private George MANNING
- Sergeant George William MANNING
- Sapper Henry Stanley MANNING (known as Stanley)
- Private John Thomas MANNING
- Private John William MANNING
- Air Mechanic Nathaniel MANNING
- Driver/Saddler Samuel MANNING
- Gunner George Albert MARTIN
- Private Joseph MARTIN
- Private Thomas Henry MARTIN (known as Harry)
- Private Thomas Walter MARTIN (known as Walter)
- Pioneer Walter Ernest MARTIN
- Sergeant William Higgs MARTIN, DCM
- Private Arthur Walter PAGE
- Private Francis Samuel PAGE (known as Sam)
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- Lieutenant George REEVE MC MM
- Private Richard Henry REEVE (known as Harry)
- Private Samuel REEVE
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- Private Abraham Bert SMITH
- Private Alfred SMITH
- Private Frank SMITH 46648
- Private John Samuel SMITH
- Private John William SMITH (6942)
- Private John William (William John) SMITH (8964)
- Private Charles Walter WADHAMS
- Private John Edward WADHAMS
- Private Thomas Edwin WADHAMS
- Private William WADHAMS