The Kings Avenue drill hall, often referred to as Melbourne House, was a military establishment in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

History

The building was designed as the headquarters of the Surrey Yeomanry and was completed in the early 20th century. The regiment was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. The regiment evolved to become the 98th (Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry, Queen Mary's) Army Field Regiment,

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1922, 298 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1947 and 263 (Surrey Yeomanry, Queen's Mary's) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1961. The unit was disbanded in 1967 but was reformed as B (Surrey Yeomanry) Troop, 200 (Sussex Yeomanry) Field Battery, 100 Medium Regiment RA (Volunteers) when it moved to

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a location * Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire * ...

in 1969. Instead the drill hall became the base for a detachment from 210 Ambulance Squadron, 151 (Greater London) Transport Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport. The detachment was subsequently transferred to 240 Transport Squadron, 151 Regiment,

Royal Logistic Corps The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army. History The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps: * Royal Engine ...

. After the drill hall had been decommissioned, it was used as a filming venue. The drill hall was demolished in April 2020 to make way for Harris Clapham Sixth Form College which is due to open in September 2021.

References

Drill halls in London Clapham Demolished buildings and structures in London Buildings and structures demolished in 2020 {{UK-mil-stub