Sir George White, 1st Baronet (1854–1916), was an English businessman and stockbroker based in Bristol. 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, until 1941 when a Luftwaffe bomb destroyed the main power supply cables. History The first trams in Brist ...

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 a ...

. 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 The Tramways Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict c 78) was an important step in the development of urban transport in United Kingdom. Street tramways had originated in the United States, and were introduced to UK by George Francis Train in the 1860s, the f ...

, 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 Parr's Bank Limited was a bank that existed from 1782 to 1918. It was founded as Parr & Co. in Warrington, then in the county of Lancashire in the United Kingdom. In 1918 it was acquired by London County and Westminster Bank, and it was thus one ...

. 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

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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, which operated horse trams in Middlesbrough, Dublin, Gloucester and Reading, the Corris Railway and, from 1894, London United Tramways, which operated horse trams in West London. 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, Bedminster Down, Knowle, Brislington and

Hanham Hanham is a suburb of Bristol. It is located in the south east of the city. Hanham is in the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire. It became a civil parish on 1 April 2003. The post code area of Hanham is BS15. The population of this c ...

, which was completed by 1900. White's influence went far beyond Bristol. By 1892 he gained control of Imperial Tramways Company which ran networks in Dublin, Reading and Middlesbrough. In 1894 White and Clifton Robinson formed London United Tramways 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

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

ran on for trains from

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

. 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, opened only 10 years previously, to make a direct connection with the Midland Railway at Bristol. White understood the importance of publicity and worked closely with his brother-in-law,

Edward Everard Edward is an English language, English given name. It is derived from the Old English, Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements ''wikt:ead#Old English, ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and ''wikt:weard#Old English, weard'' "gua ...

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 in 1957.

Motor vehicles

Between 1905 and 1908, White tested and developed a fleet of twelve motorised Thornycroft 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 (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, Gloucester and Weston-super-Mare. 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 motor coach, usually open-topped, common in Britain during the early part of the 20th century. It has "ben ...

s, plus vans, lorries and commercial vehicles.

Aircraft

White became interested in heavier-than-air flight, and in 1909 saw Wilbur Wright 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 at the end of White's tramway terminus. After some early misadventures the company produced 80 Bristol Boxkites 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.

Other interests

White also had interests in the Great Western Steamship Company, the Bristol Port and Channel Dock Company (which built Avonmouth Docks), the North Somerset Railway, the Main Colliery Company and the Taff Vale Railway. 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.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 Memorial Wing designed by Charles Holden was completed in 1912. White was also a benefactor of the Red Cross and other charities. He was created a baronet 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, 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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