- Greenlands
Greenlands is a
country house situated by theRiver Thames , just outsideHenley-on-Thames , inBuckinghamshire . Built in the nineteenth century, it now forms the core of a campus of theUniversity of Reading , and is used by their "Henley Business School" as the base for its MBA and corporate learning offerings.cite news | title = Briefing News Update - Henley Business School | date = Summer 2008 | publisher = University of Reading]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 . 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, enlarged the house but then sold it in 1868. It was bought by William Henry Smith, the entrepreneur responsible for establishing a chain of newsagents. He further extended the building, though its appearance received a cool reception from
Jerome K. Jerome 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 ofViscount Hambleden . Greenlands remained their home until immediately after theSecond World War .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 . Meanwhile, the Administrative Staff College opened its doors to course members in March 1948. In 1952, following the untimely death of Viscount Hambleden, the house was bought by the College. The Administrative Staff College was renamedHenley Management College 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
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