WOKING'S HERITAGE IN DETAIL
Victorian and Edwardian Institutions
The story of the various institutions that developed in the area during Victorian and Edwardian times can almost be divided into three areas - those around KNAPHILL and ST JOHNS, those in the MAYBURY Hill area and the Surrey Industrial School!
The main building of Brookwood Hospital – now converted into luxury apartmentsThe Surrey Industrial School - a school for ‘destitute boys not convicted of crime’ - was first established in Wandsworth in 1867, but by 1870 the County Justices decided to move it to a site ‘in the country’ at Coldharbour Farm, between Pyrford and what was later to become WEST BYFLEET. They soon outgrew this site and in 1887 moved to a new site at MAYFORD. In recent years the old buildings have been converted into starter units for local businesses - the ‘industrial’ side of the school continuing.
At Knaphill the County Justices bought 150 acres of land from the Necropolis Company for the ‘Surrey County Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ (Brookwood Hospital) - again replacing a former institution at Wandsworth! The new asylum was almost self-sufficient, with its own gasworks, sewage farm and water supply. There was even a farm, which not only provided food for the hospital’s kitchens but also provided work for some of the inmates.
Postcard of Inkerman BarracksThe Woking Invalid Convict Prison - the first of its kind in the country - was begun in 1858 on almost 65 acres of land between Knaphill and St Johns. In 1867 work started on a second prison on the site - for female prisoners. It was while this was being built that the male prison housed two Irish Fenians - Brian Dillon and John Lynch - Lynch actually dying here in 1869. In later years the female prison was ‘home’ to the infamous Mrs Maybrick, who was convicted of poisoning her husband in Liverpool in 1889. Over 100 people lined the streets of the town when she was transferred here in August that year. Nowadays it is her husband who attracts the most interest - as one of the main ‘Jack the Ripper’ suspects!
Just before Mrs Maybrick was transferred here, the decision was made to close the prisons and eventually transfer the land to the War Department for use as a barracks. The male prison closed in March 1889, with the female section remaining open for another six-and-a-half years. The site was re-christened ‘Inkerman’ Barracks, which itself closed down in 1965.
"Boys in the yard" at the Orphanage in Oriental RoadAt Maybury there were various institutions built in the period, including the St. Peter’s Covent on Maybury Hill (designed by J.L. Pearson in 1897-1901) the London & South Western Railway Servants’ Orphanage in Oriental Road (built in 1909 but demolished less than 80 years later) and the earliest of all institutions in the area - the Royal Dramatic College (a cross between a drama school and a home for retired actors and actresses), the foundation stone of which was laid by Prince Albert in June 1860. Unfortunately the college was not a great success and in 1877 it closed. The site remained empty until 1883, when Dr. G.W. Leitner bought the site and converted it into the Oriental Institute. It was through Leitner that the Mosque was built here in 1889. 
The Mosque at MayburySadly, Leitner died just ten years later and for most of the 20th century the site was used by various industries - first by Martinsydes (an aircraft and motorcycle manufacturer) and later by James Walkers Ltd. The ‘Lion Retail Park’ now occupies most of the site.
The page on Woking in the late Victorian and Edwardian Period deals with more information about some of these institutions during that period.
Booklets.
The Woking Community Play Association’s book ‘Changing Woking - 1900-1929’ contains a wealth of information on the area - including the Orphanage (which has a whole section in the book). The Institutions around Knaphill and St Johns also feature in the Heritage Walks Guide to ‘The Mad, the Bad and the Sad’, whilst the Royal Dramatic College site is recorded in the booklet on ‘Famous People from Woking’s Past’.
More information can also be found in the ‘Heritage Notes’ booklets on Mayford, Brookwood, Knaphill, St Johns, Maybury Hill and West Byfleet - please see the list of publication on the HERITAGE WALKS page.
