Place Name
Laid out in two stages in 1903 and 1906, this street recalls the Larpent family who were prominent local gentry, whose seat was at Roehampton. The Larpent baronetcy, of Roehampton, was created on October 13, 1841 for George Gerard de Hochepied Larpent (February 16, 1786 – March 8, 1855), who had earlier taken the title Baron de Hochepied from his Hungarian heritage. He was involved in numerous business interests including the East India house of Cockerell & Larpent, and he became chairman of the Oriental and China Association, and deputy-chairman of the St Katharine’s Docks Company. He stood for Parliament a number of times eventually winning a seat in Nottingham as a Whig in June 1841. However his tenure on the benches was short-lived and he was forced to retire following a petition against his return. He wrote a pamphlet in support of protection to West Indian sugar in 1823, during the debates to end slavery. On his death, the title was passed to his son Sir Albert John de Hochepied Larpent (1816 – 1861) who died on the voyage back to England from Calcutta, where he had been working as a tax collector. His untimely death meant the baronetcy then passed to his 15-year-old-son. However, tragedy struck the family again in 1899 when the third baronet Sir George Albert Larpent shot himself at the family’s Bedford home. His inquest heard that he had been concerned about some “exaggerated” financial difficulties with his Irish property. Since he had no son the baronetcy ended with him. The family did leave one local legacy, in the family’s garden at Roehampton, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (leadwort) was first successfully flowered in England; it was orginally given the name Plumbago larpentae, Lady Larpent’s Plumbago.
