Sir George White, 1st Baronet (1854–1916), was an English businessman and stockbroker based in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. He was instrumental in the construction of the

Bristol tramways Bristol Tramways operated in the city of Bristol, England from 1875, when the Bristol Tramways Company was formed by Sir George White, 1st Baronet, Sir George White, until 1941 when a Luftwaffe bomb destroyed the main power supply cables. His ...

and became a pioneer in the construction of electric tramways in England. In 1910 he formed, with his brother Samuel, the

Bristol Aeroplane Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable ...

. He had many other interests, particularly in transport companies.

Early life

White was born in

Kingsdown, Bristol Kingsdown is an area of Bristol, located on high ground immediately north of the city centre and south of Cotham. It lies within the Cotham council ward. Kingsdown remained rural until the 18th century, but around 1737 land on the southern sl ...

, on 28 March 1854, the son of James White, a painter and decorator, and his wife Eliza who had been a domestic servant before marrying. He attended St Michaels Boys' School, and in 1869 joined Stanley & Wasbrough (a Bristol firm of solicitors) as a junior clerk. In 1874 the firm was involved in the promotion of the Bristol Tramways Company, following the passage of the Tramways Act 1870 ( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 78), and White played a major part. In 1875 he left the company and established a stockbroking firm, George White & Co.Jon Press (2004) ‘White, Sir George, first baronet (1854–1916)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
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Tramways, cabs and omnibuses

In 1875 White was working with some of the richest and most influential men in Bristol. William Butler was the chairman of the Bristol Tramways Company who had already made a fortune in tar-distilling. Wholesaler Henry Gale Gardner and coal magnate Joseph Wethered were also on the board, and George White became the part-time secretary of the Bristol Tramways Company at a salary of £150 per annum. Over the next ten years, White grew his stockbroking firm, using money borrowed from Henry Gale Gardner's wagon-building company and working on behalf of the wealthy contacts he had already made including Stuckey's Bank. White continued to become more prominent in the Bristol Tramways Company. The 1880s saw the tramway network in Bristol grow and demand for more growth was abundant. George White maintained a good public profile and worked the local press so that the working class districts of Bristol would see the benefits the trams would give them. In the more affluent Clifton it was feared that the trams would bring in undesirable visitors and depress property values, resulting in the Clifton route being served only by horse omnibuses. In 1892 he also became involved in the

Imperial Tramways Company The Imperial Tramways Company Ltd (1878 to 1930) was created to bring under common management a number of street tramways. Originally based in London, its headquarters moved to Bristol in 1892 and from then on it shared its senior management wit ...

, which operated horse trams in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, the

Corris Railway The Corris Railway () is a narrow gauge railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire (now Gwynedd) and Montgomeryshire (now Powys) in Mid-Wales. The line opened in 1859 as a horse tramway, running from quays on the River Dyfi ...

and, from 1894,

London United Tramways London United Tramways Company Limited was an operator of trams and trolleybuses in the western and southern suburbs of London, UK, from 1894 to 1933, when it passed to the London Passenger Transport Board. Origins The company was formed in 189 ...

, which operated horse trams in

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

. In 1887 the Bristol tramways company was merged into the new Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company with White as managing director after the company gained a monopoly on horse-drawn cabs travelling from Bristol Temple Meads station. By 1889 the company owned 876 horses and by 1891 the combined tramways, cab and omnibus company provided 38 journeys per head of Bristol's population per year. In the 1890s White was an enthusiastic promoter of electric tramways together with the engineer James Clifton Robinson, to cut the high costs and get rid of the dirty aspects of horse-drawn trams. Starting with a line in Old Market and quickly rolling out the electric line to the existing tram system, as well as extending lines to

Fishponds Fishponds is a suburb in the north-east of the English city of Bristol, about from Bristol city centre, the city centre. It is mainly residential, and housing is typically terraced Victorian. It has a small student population from the presence ...

, Bedminster Down, Knowle,

Brislington Brislington is an area in the south east of the city of Bristol, England. It is on the edge of Bristol and from Bath, Somerset, Bath. Brislington Brook runs through the area in the woodlands of Nightingale Valley and St Anne's Wood. Brislingto ...

and

Hanham Hanham is in the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire, adjacent to, but not within the City of Bristol. It became a civil parish on 1 April 2003. The post code area of Hanham is BS15. The population of this civil parish taken at the 2 ...

, which was completed by 1900. White's influence went far beyond Bristol. By 1892 he gained control of

which ran networks in Dublin, Reading and Middlesbrough. In 1894 White and Clifton Robinson formed

and created a major suburban transport system for the capital out of the derelict remains of the West Metropolitan Tramways Company. White also got himself involved in greater projects such as expansion of the Bristol & London & South Western Junction Railway, which involved using the tracks that the London and South Western Railway ran on for trains from

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

. Whilst the venture did not come to fruition due to overwhelming opposition from Great Western Railway, it still increased White's profile and standing with Bristol's civic and commercial elite. By 1887, White was the largest shareholder in the Bristol Port Railway & Pier Company and launched an ambitious but unsuccessful project to link the city docks with the

Avonmouth Docks The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the River S ...

, opened only 10 years previously, to make a direct connection with the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

at Bristol. White understood the importance of publicity and worked closely with his brother-in-law, Edward Everard to publish illustrated guides and brochures to advertise his companies' services. White became Managing Director of Bristol Tramways in 1894 and chairman in 1900, a post he retained until his death. Under his leadership the company introduced motor buses in 1906, and began the manufacture of buses in 1908. It was renamed as the

Bristol Omnibus Company The Bristol Omnibus Company was a dominant bus operator in Bristol, and was one of the oldest bus companies in the United Kingdom. It ran buses over a wide area of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and neighbouring counties. History Early ...

in 1957.

Motor vehicles

Between 1905 and 1908, White tested and developed a fleet of twelve motorised

Thornycroft Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977. History In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its f ...

double-decker buses, with routes starting from Bristol and travelling to depots in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

, Gloucester and

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

. White saw motor taxis used in France and introduced them to Bristol's streets in 1908. In 1913 White built a motor construction factory in South Bristol capable of building 300 vehicles per year, and by 1914 the company was one of the biggest employers in Bristol with 17 tramways services and 15 omnibus services and a fleet of 44 buses, 169 tramcars, 124 taxis and 29

charabanc A charabanc or "char-à-banc" (often pronounced "sharra-bang" in colloquial British English) is a type of horse-drawn vehicle or early coach (vehicle), motor coach, usually open-topped, common in UK, Britain during the early part of the 20th ...

s, plus vans, lorries and commercial vehicles.

Aircraft

White became interested in heavier-than-air flight, and in 1909 saw

Wilbur Wright The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...

flying in France. On 19 February 1910 he founded the

(originally called the British & Colonial Aeroplane Company). This set out from the first to produce aircraft on a commercial scale, with premises in

Filton Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton has la ...

at the end of White's tramway terminus. After some early misadventures the company produced 80

Bristol Boxkite The Boxkite (officially the Bristol Biplane) was the first aircraft produced by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (later known as the Bristol Aeroplane Company). A pusher biplane based on the successful Farman III, it was one of the ...

s to great commercial success. The first overseas order for Boxkites was from the Russian government in 1910, following which the licence to produce Bristol designs was sold to France, Germany and Italy. The Bristol Fighter went into production in 1916, shortly before White's death, for use during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Other interests

White also had interests in the Great Western Steamship Company, the Bristol Port and Channel Dock Company (which built

), the

North Somerset Railway The Bristol and North Somerset Railway was a railway line in the West of England that connected Bristol with Radstock, through Pensford and further into northern Somerset, to allow access to the Somerset Coalfield. The line ran almost due so ...

, the Main Colliery Company and the

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stage ...

. He also served as president of the Bristol Stock Exchange.

Philanthropy

In 1904 Sir George White saved the hospital from debts of over £15,000 by increasing the number of subscribed donors and planning a fundraising carnival at

Bristol Zoo Bristol Zoo was a zoo in the city of Bristol in South West England. The zoo's stated mission was to "maintain and defend" biodiversity through breeding endangered species, conserving threatened species and habitats and promoting a wider underst ...

.G. Munro Smith MD, A History of the Royal Infirmary, Arrowsmith Publishing, 1917 White was appointed president of the hospital in 1906. Recognising the need to modernise the hospital building to keep up with innovations in science and medicine, he established a £50,000 fund to build a new hospital building. As a result, the new

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

Memorial Wing designed by

Charles Holden Charles Henry Holden (12 May 1875 – 1 May 1960) was an English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadwa ...

was completed in 1912. White was also a benefactor of the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

and other charities. He was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

on 26 August 1904 for his public service.

Personal life and death

White married Caroline Thomas (d. 1915) in 1876. They had two children, Daisy May (b. 1877) and George Stanley (b. 1882). He died at his home in

Stoke Bishop Stoke Bishop is a suburb in the north-west of Bristol, England. Bordered by The Downs and the River Trym, it is located between Westbury-on-Trym, Sneyd Park and Sea Mills. Although relatively low, Stoke Bishop's population has significantly i ...

, Bristol, on 22 November 1916, aged 62.

Successors to the title

* White baronets * Sir George Stanley White, 2nd Baronet (1882–1964) * Sir George Stanley Midelton White, 3rd Baronet (1913–1983) * Sir George Stanley James White, 4th Baronet (b. 1948)

References

Bibliography

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