It was designed by Robert Urie and introduced in 1921 specifically for heavy shunting over humps at Feltham marshalling yard, on the London and South Western Railway (LSWR).

With the fast growth of the LSWR's London area goods traffic in the early years of the twentieth century, the company decided to construct a modern gravitational or 'hump' marshalling yard at Feltham.

[1] Urie had designed four very large shunting tanks based on his S15 goods 4-6-0s,[2] except for utilising a somewhat smaller boiler, and eight-coupled wheels of 5 feet 1 inch (1.549 m) diameter for extra traction.

When passed over to Southern Railway ownership, the new Chief Mechanical Engineer Richard Maunsell gave consideration to constructing more G16 locomotives, but instead decided to develop his SR Z Class 0-8-0T.

They were used occasionally on empty stock and van trains, from various depots such as Guildford, but these duties were limited in numbers and further electrification in the Southern Region meant that there was a surplus of locomotives in the late 1950s.