William Tarbutt was born 18th September 1810 at Cranbrook to George Tarbutt and Philadelphia Wimsett who had married the previous year. William's trade, which he followed from his father, was as a basket maker at his shop on the High Street in Cranbrook. He continued this trade throughout his life and when he married Sarah Monk Smith in 1849 her skills as a dealer in toys and fancy goods expanded the outlet to become the Toy shop on the High Street.

William's hobby was the historical study of many aspects of Cranbrook life and it is his considerable legacy of research and lectures that makes William Tarbutt so important. He was a member of the Cranbrook Literary Association where he gave a series of lectures from 1866 to 1870:
An Historical Account of Dence's School & Schoolmasters from 1568 to 1865
Cranbrook Church
Cranbrook Church; its Monuments
Cranbrook Church; its Ministers
which were all published together in 1873 as The Annals of Cranbrook Church.
In 1874 he presented a paper on The Ancient Cloth Trade of Cranbrook to the Kent Archaeological Society followed in 1882 by a further paper on Briefs in the Parish of Cranbrook

William Tarbutt died on 29th August 1893 at Cranbrook and is buried at St Dunstan's where his gravestone records him as the Historian of Cranbrook