Greenlands is a country house situated by the River Thames in Buckinghamshire, just outside Henley-on-Thames. Built in the nineteenth century, it now forms the core of Greenlands Campus of the University of Reading, and is used by their Henley Business School as the base for its MBA and corporate learning offerings. It has been a Grade II* listed building since 1992. [1]
The present building was built on the site of a previous house which was owned in the seventeenth century by the D'Oyley family, descendants of the Norman Robert D'Oyly. [2] In the early nineteenth century, the land was owned by Thomas Darby-Coventry and a house called Greenland Lodge was built. [2]
The next owner, Edward Marjoribanks a senior partner in Coutts Banks, bought the house in 1852, enlarged it and it was sold in 1868 on his death. [3] It was bought by William Henry Smith, son of the founder of W H Smith. [2] He further extended the building, though its appearance received a cool reception from Jerome K. Jerome who joked in Three Men in a Boat that it was ‘the rather uninteresting-looking river residence of my newsagent.’ On Smith's death, his family was ennobled with the title of Viscount Hambleden. Greenlands remained their home until immediately after the Second World War. [2]
In 1946, the 3rd Viscount rented the building to the Administrative Staff College, an initiative designed to provide management education to British men and women in all sectors of the economy and government. [2] The Smith family moved into the village of Hambleden. Meanwhile, the Administrative Staff College opened to course members in March 1948. In 1952, following the death of Viscount Hambleden, the house was bought by the college. The Administrative Staff College was renamed Henley Management College in 1991, when it received its Royal Charter. In 2008 it merged with the Business School of the University of Reading, to form the new Henley Business School. [4]
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Gloucestershire to the west. The city of Oxford is the largest settlement and county town.
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Reading, 7 miles (11 km) west of Maidenhead, 23 miles (37 km) southeast of Oxford and 37 miles (60 km) west of London, near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,186.
Frieth is a village in the parish of Hambleden, in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies on the top of "Frieth Hill", which is part of the chalk escarpments of the Chiltern Hills.
Hambleden is a small village and civil parish in south-west Buckinghamshire, England. The village is around 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Marlow, and around 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.
Viscount Hambleden, of Hambleden in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1891 for Emily Danvers Smith, in honour of her deceased husband, the businessman and Conservative politician William Henry Smith. Both their son, the second Viscount, and grandson, the third Viscount, were involved in the management of the family business, the stationer and retailer W H Smith.
The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 1926 by royal charter from King George V and was the only university to receive such a charter between the two world wars. The university is usually categorised as a red brick university, reflecting its original foundation in the 19th century.
William Henry Smith, FRS was an English bookseller and newsagent of the family firm W H Smith, who expanded the firm and introduced the practice of selling books and newspapers at railway stations. He was elected a Member of Parliament in 1868 and rose to the position of First Lord of the Admiralty less than ten years thereafter. Because of his lack of naval experience, he was perceived as a model for the character Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore. In the mid-1880s, he was twice Secretary of State for War, and later First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons, among other posts.
Shiplake consists of three settlements: Shiplake, Shiplake Cross and Lower Shiplake. Together these villages form a civil parish situated beside the River Thames 2 miles (3 km) south of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The river forms the parish boundary to the east and south, and also the county boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The villages have two discrete centres separated by agricultural land. The 2011 Census records the parish population as 1,954 and containing 679 homes. The A4155 main road linking Henley with Reading, Berkshire passes through the parish.
Old Windsor is a large village and civil parish, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It is bounded by the River Thames to the east and the Windsor Great Park to the west.
Wargrave is a historic village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. The village is primarily on the River Thames but also along the confluence of the River Loddon and lies on the border with southern Oxfordshire. The village has many old listed buildings, two marinas with chandlery services for boats, a boating club and rises steeply to the northeast in the direction of Bowsey Hill, with higher parts of the village generally known as Upper Wargrave. In Upper Wargrave is a Recreation Ground with a cricket club, bowls club, football pitch and tennis club.
Temple Island is an eyot in the River Thames in England just north (downstream) of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. The island is on the reach above Hambleden Lock between the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire banks, and is part of Remenham in Berkshire. The main significance of the island is that it lies at the start of the course for Henley Royal Regatta.
Hambleden Lock is a lock with a long weir situated on the River Thames in England, about 2 miles downstream of Henley Bridge. The lock is on the Berkshire bank between Aston and Remenham. Built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1773, the lock is named after the village of Hambleden, a mile (1.5 km) to the north.
Hambleden Mill is an historic watermill on the River Thames at Mill End, near the village of Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, England. It is linked by a footbridge to Hambleden Lock, which is on the Berkshire side of the river. It was Grade II listed in 1955 and has now been converted into flats. Alongside the mill is Hambleden Marina which occupies two islands. Along the river frontage to the south-east is the site of a Roman Villa.
Park Place is a historic Grade II Listed country house and gardens in the civil parish of Remenham in Berkshire, England, set in large grounds above the River Thames near Henley, Oxfordshire.
Remenham is a village and civil parish on the Berkshire bank of the River Thames opposite Henley-on-Thames in southern England. It is particularly well known for the steep approach, known as Remenham Hill or White Hill, into Henley.
William Frederick Danvers Smith, 2nd Viscount Hambleden DL, known as Frederick Smith, was an English hereditary peer, businessman and politician. He studied at Eton, and New College, Oxford
Henley Business School is a business school which is affiliated with the University of Reading. It was formed by merging the previously independent Henley Management College with the existing business school of the University of Reading. As a result of the merger it now occupies two sites: Greenlands Campus, near the town of Henley-on-Thames, the original site of the Henley Management College, and Whiteknights Campus in Reading.
William Henry Smith, 3rd Viscount Hambleden, was a British peer and descendant of the founders of stationery group W H Smith.
Charles Geddes Clarkson Hyslop was a 20th-century British architect, trained at the British School at Rome. Linked with the Bloomsbury set, his work, mostly in the classical style, was fashionable amongst the British upper classes and intelligentsia in the years immediately surrounding World War II. He is remembered today as a restorer of country houses and a designer of knowledgeable pastiches.
William Herbert "Harry" Smith, 4th Viscount Hambleden was a British peer and descendant of the founders of the stationery group W H Smith.
51°33′47″N0°52′57″W / 51.5631°N 0.8825°W
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