George Wyatt Truscott Vanity Fair 4 November 1908

Sir George Wyatt Truscott, 1st Baronet (9 October 1857 – 16 April 1941)"Truscott, Sir George (Wyatt)." WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. December 01, 2007. Oxford University Press. was a British businessman and

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

from 1908 to 1909.

Background

Truscott was born in 1857, the eldest surviving son of Alderman Sir Francis Wyatt Truscott and Eliza Freeman, daughter of James Freeman. His father was Lord Mayor of London 1879–80, and a sister Louisa Truscott (d. 1933) was the wife of Sir

Homewood Crawford Sir Henry Homewood Crawford (12 June 1850 – 17 November 1936) was a British solicitor, prominent in the livery companies of the City of London and the National Association of Local Government Officers (NALGO). Crawford was educated at Than ...

, for many years Solicitor to the

Corporation of the City of London The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

. He was educated at private schools, and stayed for a while in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He was Chairman of Brown, Knight & Truscott, Ltd, printers and stationers. He was a resident of the London suburb of Upper Norwood where his parents had also lived for many years.

Civic career

Truscott had a long career in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. He was a Common Councilman, City of London, 1882–1895, then elected

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of the

Dowgate Dowgate, also referred to as ''Downgate'' and ''Downegate'', is a small ward in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. The ward is bounded to the east by Swan Lane and Laurence Poutney Lane, to the south by the River Th ...

Ward, in succession to his late father, in 1895. He was elected a

Sheriff of the City of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

in 1902 (serving October 1902 to September 1903), together with Thomas Henry Brooke-Hitching. During his year as Sheriff, he accompanied the Lord Mayor ( Sir Marcus Samuel) on an official visit to the English city

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

(November 1902), where they made a journey down the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

, and visited the Elswick works. Five years later, he was elected Lord Mayor of the

in 1908 (serving November 1908 to November 1909). He was on the Commission for the Lieutenancy for City of London; a Chairman of Visiting Committee of the City of London Mental Hospital; Governor of St Bartholomew's, St Thomas's, Christ's and Bethlehem Hospitals; and of Queen Ann's Bounty. Truscott received the Honorary Freedom of the City of London in 1937. During his mayoralty, Truscott opened the widened

Blackfriars Bridge Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is in the City of London near the Inns of Court and Temple Ch ...

and drove the first

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

across it, on 14 September 1909. Truscott was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

while he was sheriff, in the November 1902 Birthday Honours list, and knighted by

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

on 18 December 1902. For his service as Lord Mayor he was customary 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 ...

, of Oakleigh in East Grinstead in the

County of Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, on 16 July 1909. He received several foreign awards during his years in the City, including Officer of the Order of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

of France, Officer of the Order of Leopold of Belgium, Knight Commander of the Order of Wasa of Sweden, Knight Commander of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

of Japan, and Grand Cross of the Russian

Order of St Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus ( pl, Order Św. Stanisława Biskupa Męczennika, russian: Орден Святого Станислава), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Ponia ...

Family

Truscott married Jessie Stanham (d 1921), elder daughter of George Gordon Stanham, an architect. She was a Lady of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. They had two sons and two daughters. One of their sons were killed in the war, the other was Eric Homewood Stanham Truscott who succeeded him as baronet in 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Truscott, George Wyatt 1857 births 1941 deaths Sheriffs of the City of London 20th-century lord mayors of London 20th-century English politicians 19th-century English politicians Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom