A413 at The White Swan, Whitchurch - geograph

The Firs is a country house in

Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire Whitchurch is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is on the A413 road about north of Aylesbury and south of Winslow. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 932. Toponym T ...

History

The house was built in 1897 for Charles Gray, an officer who fought with the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but su ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. By the 1930s the house was owned by Major Arthur Abrahams from whom it was requisitioned by the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in 1939. During 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 ...

the house was used by

MD1 Ministry of Defence 1 (MD1), also known as "Churchill's Toyshop", was a British weapon research and development organisation of the Second World War. Its two key figures were Major Millis Jefferis and Stuart Macrae, former editor of ''Armchair ...

for the development and testing of various weapons including time delay

fuse Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protect ...

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

s and PIAT guns. The house, which was known locally as "Winston Churchill's Toyshop", accommodated some 250 people at this time. Meanwhile Abrahams was knighted for his services to the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

in June 1942. In around 1953 the house became the Central Research Laboratories for

Richard Thomas and Baldwins Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd (RTB) was a major iron, steel and tinplate producer, primarily based in Wales and formed in 1948 by the merger of Richard Thomas & Co Ltd with Baldwins Ltd. It was absorbed into British Steel Corporation in 1967. The ...

, iron and steel producers. This use continued until 1967 when Richard Thomas and Baldwins was nationalised as part of British Steel. The house has since been converted into offices and in 2016 was owned by Christopher Mann, Chairman of Plenham Publishing.

References

{{coord, 51.8768, N, 0.8331, W, region:GB-BKM_type:landmark, display=title Country houses in Buckinghamshire Military history of Buckinghamshire Military research establishments of the United Kingdom Research institutes in Buckinghamshire