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L Tranter & Son was formed in 1898 by John & Leonard Tranter.
Based in West Street, St Georges, father and son had purchased a row of 7 one bedroom cottages with a large yard at the rear, which over a century later remains the head office of the company.
The early days saw our horse-drawn carriages used for many different duties including house removals, the haulage of coal and passenger transport, but it was the magnificent sight of the Belgian Black horses pulling the hearses and mourner’s carriages that the business was best known for. In 1926 at the age of 14, the third generation, Horace Tranter, who had qualified as a motor mechanic, joined his father and grandfather in the business and almost immediately opened a motor repair garage and cycle shop in Church Street, St Georges.
By the end of the 1930s motor vehicles had completely replaced the horse drawn carriages, so the stables in Chapel St where the horses had been kept were closed. John Tranter joined father Horace and grand-father Leonard on a full time basis in 1956 and began to concentrate on the Funeral duties.
Having closed the Church Street garage and relocated the cycle shop to West Street, John’s other tasks included driving the private hire vehicles, selling and repairing bicycles and acting as a Chauffeur and Bearer.
By 1967 John, who was soon to be joined by wife Patricia, had begun to offer a complete Funeral Service to the residents of Telford New Town.
During the 1970s L Tranter & Son acquired A T Thompson Funeral Director of Trench and A Bailey Funeral Directors of Belmont Road, Ironbridge (Bailey & Tranter).
By the late 80s with the expanding business requiring more space, the decision was taken to close the cycle shop and begin the transformation of what has since become a modern all purpose Funeral Home.
Symon Tranter joined his parents in the business on a full time basis in 1988 and subsequently took over the day to day management in 1995 when his mother Patricia retired.
In 1996 the business of Ken Evans Funeral Directors of Newport (Evans & Tranter) was acquired and a second office under the name of this business was opened in November 2000.
In 2009 the head office at West Street, St Georges which Tranter’s had occupied for over 110 years was totally restored, followed in 2013 by a similar restoration of our 17th century grade 2 listed offices in Newport.
During 2015 we acquired, renovated and officially opened our third office in Donnington which is home to our memorial showroom and Pre-Paid planning centre.
With the sixth generation of our family waiting in the wings, you can be assured that the Tranter name will be around for many more years to come.
