Lambrook School

General information

Lambrook is an independent preparatory school in Winkfield Row, in the village of Winkfield in Berkshire, for day and boarding pupils between the ages of 3 and 13. The current headmaster is Jonathan Perry, assisted by his wife, Jenny. The school is governed by a Board of Governors, whose Chairman is currently Tom Beardmore-Gray. In 2010, Lambrook celebrated 150 years of educating children with a variety of events and functions.HistoryThe school was founded in 1860 by Robert Burnside, in a large country house built in 1853 by William Budd. Burnside initially employed only one master, and by 1879 there were twenty one boys, including two grandsons of Queen Victoria, Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein. Run as a traditional boys' boarding school, Lambrook accepted only male pupils between the ages of 7 and 13 until 1993.In 1883 Edward Mansfield took over as headmaster, with 46 boys, and made substantial additions to the property, almost doubling its size. Mansfield's expansion saw Lambrook gain a reputation as an efficiently run and forward looking school, although this came at significant financial cost, which placed the school's finances under considerable pressure. It was around this time that there was a 'row', which saw almost all of the pupils leave.Upon the accession of the Rev. Francis Browne in 1904 there were only 35 pupils and seven teaching staff, but by 1935 the school had expanded again to 59 boys. The current chapel was built under Francis Browne's tenure, in 1905. By 1945 there were 90 boys and a nearby residence, Westfield, was purchased to accommodate 30 pupils. When Archie Forbes took over in 1952 the school finances were at crisis point, and only improved by the time the Rev. Philip Brownless, Archie Forbes' son-in-law, was appointed in 1956. However, substantial death duty liabilities hit Lambrook when Archie Forbes died in the same year, and the financial ruin that the school then faced was only averted in 1967, when Lambrook became a Charitable Trust.