Leslie Tarran was born 22nd June 1898 in Chester, where his parents were living at 7, Orchard Street off Garden Lane. He was the son of Thomas Tarran (born Buckley in Flintshire) and his wife Hannah (nee Hayes) who was also born at Buckley. Thomas was an assurance agent for the Prudential Assurance Company.
The 1901 census recorded the family as having moved to Preston on the Hill, where they were living at Sunnyside Cottages. The father was at that time a district missionary (undenominational). (Other sources showed that he was a salt missioner, a religious visitor to non-conformist inmates at the local workhouse). Two-year-old Leslie had an older sister Norah, who was six years old. Two other children, Ernest Hayes and Gertrude had died as babies in 1889 and 1891.
Ten years later they are living at “Rosemount” in Preston on the Hill. Norah was still at school, as was Leslie, who attended Daresbury School until the summer of 1911, when he transferred to Balfour Road County Secondary School in Runcorn. Leslie left school in July 1912 to start work of an unspecified nature.
Leslie served in a number of regiments during the Great War, but it is not apparent in which order. His WW1 Service Medal Award Roll showed that he was a Pioneer in the Royal Engineers, with the service number 357049, in the Cheshire Regiment (243798), a Training Reserve Battalion (51308) and the Manchester Regiment (52958) in which he was a Private. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Sadly, his mother Hannah died in July 1919 at the age of 55 years. She was recorded as living at 32, Caythorpe Street in the Moss Side area of Manchester. She was buried at Bistre in Flintshire, her native county.
Leslie married Emily Butterworth on 3rd September 1921 at Chorlton in Manchester. She was three years younger than him. Their son Gordon was born on 5th November 1923 in Manchester, but just over a year later his mother died at the age of 33 years. It is not known where the family were living at the time.
By 1939 16-year-old Gordon was living in an apartment house in George Street in Manchester, but there was no record of Leslie. His father Thomas Tarran died in Barton, Manchester in 1941.
In 1942 Leslie married Ada Manford, who was from the Chorlton area of Manchester and who was three years younger than him. They had no children.
Leslie Tarran died on 19th April 1965, his address being recorded as 92, Parkfield Street in Rusholme, Manchester. He was a retired salesman and was 66 years of age. Ada died in 1982.