William Alfred Thomas Carter [also known as W.A.T. Carter] was born in East Meon, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England, on 14 October 1880 and was articled to A. G. Gibbs from 1895 to 1897. He was then employed as an assistant to Henry Thomas Keates (1839-1918) in Petersfield, Hampshire from 1897 to 1901; to George Walton (1867-1933) in London in 1901-02; and in the London County Council Architects' Department in 1902-03.
Carter qualified as an architect in 1903 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) the next year. He commenced independent practice as an architect in London in 1904. By 1908 he had moved to Liphook in Hampshire and by 1919 had relocated his practice to Petersfleid, Hampshire where he remained for the rest of his life.
His address was given as 66 Richmond Road, Paddington, London in 1901; 15 Waldemar Road, Wimbledon, London in 1904 and 1905; Liphook, Hampshire in 1908 and 1914; Hollybanks, Bramshott, Hampshire in 1911; 1, High Street, Petersfleid, Hampshire 1919 and 1939; Shirtles, Tilmore, Petersfield, Hampshire in 1939 and 1941. He died at Shirtles on 5 January 1941
In 1914 Carter converted an old barn in Milland, Liphook, Hampshire into a squash racket court. The project is discussed in Small Country Houses. Their Repair and Enlargement by Lawrence Weaver (London: Country Life, 1914 pp. 195-200). During the late 1930s he designed Minibrix construction toys for I.T.S. Rubber Ltd.; and in 1930-31 designed new buildings for Churcher's College, Petersfield, Hampshire
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-J. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
‘Obituary’. Architect & Building News vol. 165, 24 January p. 77
‘The Opening of the New Buildings’. The Churcherian vol. 3, no. 11, October 1931 pp. 32-37