Name

Walter Herbert Hattrell

Designation
architect
Born
1872
Place of Birth
Coventry
Location
Coventry Leicester
Died
1925

  • Born : 4 June 1872
  • Died : 17 March 1925

Walter Herbert Hattrell was born at Chapel Fields, Coventry in 1872, one of nine children of George Philip Hattrell and his wife Elizabeth (nee Callow).  At the time of Walter’s birth the family had only recently moved to Coventry from London where the older children had all been born. In April 1865 bankruptcy proceedings had been commenced against George Philip Hattrell. The notice in the London Gazette describes him as “late of 1 Bath Street, Tabernacle Square Shoreditch, grocer, cheesemonger and general shop-keeper and now of 90 Lever Street, St Luke’s, greengrocer, coal dealer and watch balance maker” [London Gazette 5 May 1865].  Following his move to Coventry, in 1874 G P Hattrell was listed as ‘watch compensation balance makers’ with premises at 18 Duke Street in the Chapelfields district. At the time the whole area was devoted to clock and watch making, which had begun in Coventry in the eighteenth century but by 1870 had already started its terminal decline. Faced with increasing foreign competition, and mass production techniques, these difficulties were to increase rapidly towards the end of the nineteenth century. This was no longer a trade that could be passed from father to son. Alternative fields of employment had to be found and new enterprises such as sewing machine manufacture and bicycle-making, were established, based on the skills of the watch-making industry. Members of the various watch-making families were to follow a variety of careers. Fred Lee began to specialise in watch jewels and moved towards that position of importance in industrial jewels that made his little firm indispensable in the Second World War. Other families entered the retail side of the business. Oliver Flinn established a shop in Broadgate in 1884, and the same path was followed by the Gilberts and the Bands. Even the older generation struggled to continue as watch-makers. In the 1891 census George Philip Hattrell and his wife had reverted to their earlier occupations, being listed as bakers and grocers, with a shop at 15 Hartford Street, and again in the Directory of 1896, as shopkeepers. 

The same census records Walter Herbert Hattrell, then aged 18, as being employed as an architect’s assistant. Details of this early training are obscure, although he was awarded 2nd prize for Building Construction at Coventry Technical Institute in 1890. Later he would attend classes at the School of Art and the Practice still possesses a book awarded by the Coventry School of Art to Walter Hattrell for Architectural Drawing, dated 6 December 1893.

Documentary evidence of his activities during the period 1894-6 remains elusive, although it would appear that he found employment in West Hartlepool, possibly in the office of James Garry FRIBA (1850-1918). He was certainly playing rugby for West Hartlepool II in September and October 1895, and may well have met both Frederick Harrison and his future wife during his time in the North-east.  He commenced independent practice in Coventry in September 1896. A brief note appeared in a Coventry paper recording the change: “A partnership has arranged between Mr. W. H. Hattrell, of Coventry (late West Hartlepool) and Mr. F. Harrison, West Hartlepool and Preston, architects and surveyors offices, 28, Hertford Street, Coventry.”[Coventry Herald 4 September 1896 page 5].  Less than two years later, he was sufficiently confident in the progress that the business was making to propose marriage to Annie Johnson.  Born in Stockton on Tees and baptised there on 10 April 1870, Annie was the daughter of Robert Thomas Yeadon Johnson of the Albion Hotel, and Ann Railton Johnson of West Hartlepool. The various records suggest that she was also the twin sister of Elizabeth Johnson who had married Frederick Harrison in 1896. Herbert and Annie were married in June 1898 at West Hartlepool, an event recorded in some detail in the local paper:

 MARRIAGE AT ALL SAINTS. There was a crowded congregation this morning at All Saints' Church, Stranton, to witness the nuptials of Mr Walter Herbert Hattrell, architect, Leicester and Coventry, with Miss Annie Johnson, daughter of Mrs A. R. Johnson, of West Hartlepool. The Rev. R. Parr, M.A., vicar of St. James's, officiated. The bridesmaids were Miss Hattrell (Coventry), sister of the bridegroom , and Miss Hart, of West Hartlepool. Mr H F W Nicholls acted as best man. The bride wore a dress of white brocade trimmed with chiffon and picture hat to match. Mr J. F. Hard, organist of St. James's, played the "Wedding March." A wedding breakfast was subsequently provided at the Masonic Hall. The newly-wedded couple left for London and the South on the 1.52 train. [Hartlepool Mail 8 June 1898 page 3]

In politics, W H Hattrell was a staunch liberal. In 1903 he stood as the liberal candidate for the Gosford Street Ward, a vacancy created by the resignation of Councillor Aviss [Coventry Herald 2 Jan 1903 page 5]. Successful at the election of 17 January, Walter Hattrell was deeply involved in civic duties in addition to running a successful architectural practice for the next six years.

The partnership between Frederick Harrison and Walter Hubert Hattrell was formally dissolved on 30 November 1907, after which W H Hattrell continued to practice on his own account from 23 Hertford Street, and later at 1 Queen’s Road Coventry. He died on 17 March 1925 while his son Walter Stanley Hattrell was in America, and was interred at London Road Cemetery, Coventry.

Address
1896-1901    Harrison and Hattrell 28 Hertford Street, Coventry
1901-1907    Harrison and Hattrell 23 Hertford Street, Coventry
1907-1916    W H Hattrell. Architect & Surveyor 23 Hertford Street, Coventry
1917        Walter H Hattrell, Architect and Surveyor. 1, Stoneleigh Terrace, Coventry
1921/22    W H Hattrell, Architect,  1, Queens Road, Coventry
1923        W H Hattrell, Architect,  1, Queens Road, Coventry
1924        W H Hattrell, Architect,  1, Queens Road, Coventry

Residence
1881        18 Duke Street, Coventry (1881 census)
1903        Walter Herbert Hattrell, architect, 10 St Patrick’s Road
1908        Walter Herbert Hattrell, architect, 10 St Patrick’s Road
1914        Walter Herbert Hattrell, architect 1, Belvedere Road, Coventry
1915        Walter Herbert Hattrell, architect 1, Belvedere Road, Coventry
1920        Walter Herbert Hattrell MSA, architect and surveyor, Stoke House, near Coventry

Partnerships

Name Designation Formed Dissolved Location
Harrison and Hattrell Architectural practice 1896 1907 Coventry Leicester