The Royal Alexandra & Albert School

A Memory of Gatton.

I came here at almost 5 years of age, in September 1949, to commence my schooling with the then newly amalgamated Royal Alexandra and Royal Albert Schools - both being of London orphanage origins from the mid-eighteenth century.  The beautiful 250 acre estate, formerly belonging to the late Sir Jeremiah Colman ("The Mustard King") was acquired by the newly-formed RAAS shortly after Sir Jeremiah's demise in 1948, and I was among the very first juvenile occupants in Gatton Hall's new guise as a boarding school.  In the 62 years since then, there have been significant developments and additional school buildings; most were completed by 1953, but as the school and it's requirements have expanded, so too have the considerable number of additional buildings and facilities - all sympathetically in keeping with the ambience of the estate, which has much history.  In 1086 it was mentioned in the Domesday Book, given parliamentary borough status in 1450 with it's own rudimentary 'Town Hall' (still standing), and was landscaped into parkland in 1766 by the well-known Lancelot 'Capabilty' Brown.  Since then there appear to have been 5 owners of this estate, all of whom being very wealthy and influential industrialists.  The estate grosses to around 600 acres in full with adjoining farmland.  Needless to say, as a school, the grounds are not currently open to the general public without prior contact and permission from the school authorities.