Amersham Hall was a "school for the sons of dignified gentlemen" in England. From 1829 to 1861 it was in Elmodesham House in

Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, relocating in 1861 to Caversham in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. The Caversham site, a suburb in the north of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and now in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, currently houses

Queen Anne's School Queen Anne's School is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18, situated in the suburb of Caversham just north of the River Thames and Reading town centre and occupying a campus. There are around 450 pupils. Nearly half a ...

. 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).Malpas, John. ''Caversham Names''. Reading: John Malpas, 1995, pp.33–34. The school closed in 1896 following an outbreak of Scarlet Fever.

Notable alumni

Augustine Birrell Augustine Birrell King's Counsel, KC (19 January 185020 November 1933) was a British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916. In this post, he was praised for enabling tenant farmers t ...

(1850–1933), author and politician * Virgoe Buckland (1825–1883), surveyor (son of

William Thomas Buckland William Thomas Buckland was born on 5 September 1798 in Wraysbury now in Berkshire, England, in the house on Longbridge Farm where he later lived, and where he died on 1 November 1870. He became an innovative surveyor and auctioneer,''History ...

) *

Francis Gotch Francis Gotch (13 July 1853 – 15 July 1913) was a British neurophysiologist who was professor of physiology at University College Liverpool and Oxford University. He was educated at Amersham Hall School and then at London University graduati ...

(1853–1913), neurophysiologist * Sir Alfred Pearce Gould (1852-1922), Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

(1912–16), Vice-Chancellor of the university (1916–17) *

John Neville Keynes John Neville Keynes ( ; 31 August 1852 – 15 November 1949) was a British economist and father of John Maynard Keynes. Biography Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, Keynes was the child of John Keynes (1805–1878) and his wife Anna Maynard Neville ...

(1852–1949), economist * Sir Frank William Wills Kt. (1852-1932), architect, surveyor &

Lord Mayor of Bristol The position of Lord Mayor of Bristol was conferred on the city in June 1899 (effective 15 November 1899) as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours and was confirmed by letters patent dated 1 April 1974. Prior to November 1899 the position of M ...

. He was also a member of the

Wills tobacco W.D. & H.O. Wills was a British tobacco manufacturing company formed in Bristol, England. It was the first British company to mass-produce cigarettes, and one of the founding companies of Imperial Tobacco along with John Player & Sons. The com ...

Family. * Sir Frederick Wills Bt. (1838-1909) businessman,

Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...

politician, and a director of

WD & HO Wills W.D. & H.O. Wills was a British tobacco manufacturing company formed in Bristol, England. It was the first British company to mass-produce cigarettes, and one of the founding companies of Imperial Tobacco along with John Player & Sons. The c ...

, which later merged to become

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mor ...

. *

Robert Maynard Leonard Robert Maynard Leonard (10 May 1869 – 13 July 1941), sometimes credited as R. Maynard Leonard, was an English journalist, editor, and light poet, the editor of many anthologies of English verse. Early life The Leonards were a family of merchants ...

(1869–1941), journalist and editor“LEONARD, Robert Maynard” in ''The Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Proposals for Membership'' (1900)
p. 7
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References

Sources

On Line Tour of Old Amersham - amersham.org

Image of Amersham Hall School, Henley Road, Caversham
Educational institutions established in 1829 Defunct schools in Buckinghamshire Defunct schools in Reading, Berkshire Boys' schools in Berkshire History of Reading, Berkshire Amersham 1829 establishments in England {{Berkshire-school-stub