Amersham Hall

Amersham Hall was a "school for the sons of dignified gentlemen" in England. From 1829 to 1861 it was in Elmodesham House in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, relocating in 1861 to Caversham in Oxfordshire. The Caversham site, a suburb in the north of Reading and now in Berkshire, currently houses Queen Anne's School.

Charles West, the son of the founder, and one of the pupils for whom the school was founded, went on to be arguably the first paediatrician in the United Kingdom, and to found Gt Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children

The Reverend Ebenezer West, principal of Amersham Hall, funded most of the construction of the West Memorial Hall in Caversham, as well as the Caversham Baptist Free Church a decade later. The memorial hall was extended in 1911 to provide rooms for "wholesome recreation and moral improvement for the young men of Caversham", increasing the space available for religious educations on Sundays (in connection with the Caversham Free Church).^[1]

The school closed in 1896 following an outbreak of Scarlet Fever.^[2]

Notable alumni

Augustine Birrell (1850–1933), author and politician
Virgoe Buckland (1825–1883), surveyor (son of William Thomas Buckland)
Francis Gotch (1853–1913), neurophysiologist
Sir Alfred Pearce Gould (1852-1922), Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of London (1912–16), Vice-Chancellor of the university (1916–17)
John Neville Keynes (1852–1949), economist
Sir Frank William Wills Kt. (1852-1932), architect, surveyor & Lord Mayor of Bristol. He was also a member of the Wills tobacco Family.
Sir Frederick Wills Bt. (1838-1909) businessman, Liberal Unionist politician, and a director of WD & HO Wills, which later merged to become Imperial Tobacco.
Robert Maynard Leonard (1869–1941), journalist and editor^[3]

References

^ Malpas, John. Caversham Names. Reading: John Malpas, 1995, pp.33–34.
^ The Academy to Educate the Sons of Liberal Gentlemen
^ “LEONARD, Robert Maynard” in The Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Proposals for Membership (1900), p. 7

Sources

On Line Tour of Old Amersham - amersham.org
Image of Amersham Hall School, Henley Road, Caversham

Schools in Berkshire, England¹

Primary

Secondary (non-selective)

Grammar

Independent (preparatory)

Independent (senior)

Independent (allthrough)

Special

Defunct

¹includes schools in Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor & Maidenhead and Wokingham.

v t e Schools in Buckinghamshire
Non-selective secondary	Amersham School The Aylesbury Vale Academy The Beaconsfield School Bourne End Academy Buckingham School Buckinghamshire University Technical College Chalfonts Community College Chiltern Hills Academy The Cottesloe School Cressex Community School The Grange School Great Marlow School Highcrest Academy Holmer Green Senior School John Colet School Mandeville School The Misbourne School Princes Risborough School St Michael's Catholic School Sir Thomas Fremantle School Sir William Ramsay School Waddesdon Church of England School
Grammar	Aylesbury Grammar School Aylesbury High School Beaconsfield High School Burnham Grammar School Chesham Grammar School Dr Challoner's Grammar School Dr Challoner's High School John Hampden Grammar School Royal Grammar School Royal Latin School Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School Sir William Borlase's Grammar School Wycombe High School
Private	Akeley Wood School Caldicott School Pipers Corner School St Mary's School Stowe School Teikyo School Wycombe Abbey
Special	Alfriston School Chiltern Way Academy Furze Down School MacIntyre School The PACE Centre Pebble Brook School Stocklake Park Community School
Further education	Aylesbury College
Defunct	Amersham Hall Divine Mercy College Holy Cross Convent School The E-ACT Burnham Park Academy Lady Verney High School London Central Elementary High School
See also	Schools in the Borough of Milton Keynes