Edmund Livingstone Wratten was born in Islington, Middlesex [now London] on 1877. He was articled to James Williams from 1893 and remained with him as his assistant. He also attended the Architectural Association Schools in London. He qualified as an architect in 1901 and commenced independent practice in London in 1904 and was in partnership with James Williams in 1904-05, and with Walter Hindes Godfrey (1881-1961) as as Wratten & Godfrey from 1905 to 1925.
Wratten was elected an Architect of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1902 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1925.
His address was given as Hellingley, Dingwell Avenue, Croydon, Surrey in 1902; 11 Carteret Street, Westminster, London in 1909; The hite Cottage, Searchwood Road, Whyteleafe, Surrey, in 1914; and 18, Queen Anne's Gate, London in 1923. He died in Warlingham, Surrey, on 3 December 1925.
By Wratten and Godfrey: — Crosby Hall, re-erection at Chelsea; restorations of Tower House (Apuldram), Dean's Place (Alfriston), Dorset Arms (Withyham), Bull House (Lewes); additions to Pitchford Hall (Shrewsbury), Henley Hall (Ludlow), Primrose House (Roehampton), Ascott House (Leighton Buzzard), Burford Priory (Oxon); numerous new domestic buildings In London and South of England; Eton College Memorial Chapel (fittings and decoration) ; memorial cross and tablets at Highclere, Hants, and Street, Sussex: tablets at West Hoathly, Westmeston, in Sussex; Pitchford, Shropshire; St. Devereux, Hereford ; Hatfield Broadoak, Essex. Gardens at Ashdown Place, Forest Row; Dalmgridge. Place, West Hoathly; High Barn, Godalming; Elm-Tree Farm, West Wittering; Barton, Cambridge; etc. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1923]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian architecture: a biographical dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
'Obituary'. The Architectural Review vol. 59, January 1926 p. lii
'Obituary'. The Builder vol. 129, 18 December 1925 p. 872
'Obituary'. Royal Institute of British Architects Journal vol. 33, 19 December 1925 pp. 115, 120