Draft:Leslie Henry Ransom



Leslie Ransom, LHR to his friends, was born on the 26th February 1900 to Percy & Mary Ransom of Ellerton Road, Surbiton. He was the first of their 6 children, all boys.

At the age of 15 he tried to join the Air Force but was returned home by the local police. He successfully signed up, aged 16 to the Air Force and became a high ranking officer in the Royal Flying Corps.

On returning from the war he was awarded a place at Regents College (now know as University College London) for a year long course in architecture.

He went to work for the Moon family who owned large swathes of farmland in Hook, Chessington, Oxshott and Cobham.

In the late 1920s he branched out on his own and began buying land and building houses. The land was pastures and could be purchased cheaply.

90% of the materials needed to build his new Hooklands Estate were from British manufacturing. The estate had the lowest density of any in the district at only 9 houses per acre. Almost all houses had cars as he believed it would not be long before many people would own their own motor car.

In July 1923 aged 23 he married Nellie Isabel Appleton.