This imposing block of flats in Brook Street is named after the Tring poet Gerald Massey (1828 -1907). The site was previously occupied by the Tring Gas Light & Coke Co. Massey was the son of a canal boatman living at Gamnel on the Wendover Arm. At aged 8 he started work at the silk mill. Many years later he was a successful poet and lectured widely on literature. He also specialised in the study of ancient Egyptian beliefs. He is said to be the prototype of 'Felix Holt – the Radical' in George Eliot's eponymous novel.
Author: A Beck