Greenlands is a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

situated by the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

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 ...

, just outside

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

. Built in the nineteenth century, it now forms the core of Greenlands Campus of the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public 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 192 ...

, and is used by their

Henley Business School Henley Business School is a business school which now forms part of the University of Reading. It was formed by merging the previously independent Henley Management College (formerly the Administrative Staff College) with the existing business ...

as the base for its

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

and corporate learning offerings. It has been a

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed building since 1992. Greenlands, Henley-upon-Thames, about 1869

History

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 Robert D'Oyly (also spelt Robert D'Oyley de Liseaux, Robert Doyley, Robert de Oiley, Robèrt d'Oilly, Robert D'Oyley and Roberti De Oilgi) was a Norman nobleman who accompanied William the Conqueror on the Norman conquest, his invasion of Engla ...

. In the early nineteenth century, the land was owned by Thomas Darby-Coventry and a house called Greenland Lodge was built. The next owner, Edward Marjoribanks a senior partner in

Coutts Coutts & Co. is a London-headquartered private bank and wealth manager. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channel Islands and the Isle of ...

Banks, bought the house in 1852, enlarged it and it was sold in 1868 on his death.(1868) "E. Marjoribanks", Obituary, Gentleman's magazine It was bought by William Henry Smith, son of the founder of

W H Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...

. He further extended the building, though its appearance received a cool reception from

Jerome K. Jerome Jerome Klapka Jerome (2 May 1859 – 14 June 1927) was an English writer and humourist, best known for the comic travelogue ''Three Men in a Boat'' (1889). Other works include the essay collections '' Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow'' (1886) an ...

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 Viscount Hambleden, of Hambleden in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1891 (as Viscountess Hambleden) for Emily Danvers Smith, in honour of her deceased husband, the businessman and C ...

. Greenlands remained their home until immediately after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. 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. The Smith family moved into the village of

Hambleden Hambleden is a small village and civil parish in south-west Buckinghamshire, England. The village is around west of Marlow, and around north-east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. The civil parish also includes the villages of Fingest and ...

. 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 Henley Business School is a business school which now forms part of the University of Reading. It was formed by merging the previously independent Henley Management College (formerly the Administrative Staff College) with the existing business ...

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''.

References

{{University of Reading Country houses in Buckinghamshire University of Reading Grade II* listed houses in Buckinghamshire 19th-century establishments in England Buildings and structures on the River Thames Hambleden