KELLY'S Directory of Surrey 1934

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BISLEY is a parish and village, 2 miles north from Brookwood station on the South Western section of the Southern railway, 4 north-west from Woking, 6 north-west from Woking village, 8 south-west from Chertsey and 27 from London, and in the Chertsey division of the county, hundred of Godley, petty sessional division of Woking, rural district of Bagshot, county court district of Farnham, rural deanery of Woking, archdeaconry of Dorking and diocese of Guildford. The church of St. John the Baptist is a stone building of the 12th century, in the Early English style, and has a bell-cot over the west entrance, containing 3 bells: the ancient chalice bears the date 1570; at the east end is a memorial window: there is also a white marble tablet bearing the names of the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18: in 1873 the church was enlarged and restored and in 1899 the churchyard was enlarged, the ground for the purpose being given by the rector, the Rev. John Gwyon; there are 150 sittings. The register dates from the year 1561. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £230 with 12 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Guildford, and held since 1929 by the Rev Charles Montagu Horley, of Wells Theological College. There is a parochial church council, established under the Parochial Church Councils Act, 1919, which exercises a controlling hand in all church matters. There are charities of about £40 yearly. The water of the holy well in this parish is impregnated with iron, and was at one time much resorted to by sick persons. The Bisley School, one of the Shaftesbury Homes, erected in 1868, is for the reception of 312 necessitous boys; the estate comprises about 120 acres; the boys are taught various useful trades, and also have an elementary education. The Shaftesbury House was erected in 1873, and reconstructed in 1927. The chapel seating 350, was built in 1874, the sanctuary and vestry having been added later. There is a bungalow hospital for the boys of these schools, erected in 1896. Four cottages facing the village green were erected during 1893 in memory of William Williams, founder of the Shaftesbury Homes, for the use of the officers of the schools. At Bisley is the Princess Christian's Brookwood Homes and Workshops for disabled soldiers and sailors, consisting of five large blocks of buildings and about 16 acres of land. The Auxiliary Convalescent Home to Queen Alexandra's Hospital was opened in 1914. A Village Institute was erected in 1912 by W. H. Wakefield esq. and is let by him on a peppercorn rent to trustees. It contains a hall, to seat 250 persons, billiard and reading rooms. Adjoining is a miniature rifle range. A granite cross, 11 feet high, was erected near the village school in 1921 as a memorial to the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. The Earl of Onslow P.C., OBE. is lord of the manor, and the National Rifle Association and the War Department are the chief landowners. Gas and electric light are supplied by private companies in Woking. The soil is loam; subsoil. clay, gravel and sand. The chief crops are wheat, oats, beans and swedes. The area is 922 acres; the population in 1931 was 1,151.

By the Surrey Review Order, 1933, part of this parish was transferred to Woking urban district and added to the parish of Horsell.

The camp of the National Rifle Association here was opened in 1890 by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, then Prince and Princess of Wales. From the year 1860, when Queen Victoria inaugurated the first meeting, the annual gatherings of the association had been held at Wimbledon, but the necessity for obtaining ranges of increased extent obliged the association to remove from the old site and Bisley was chosen as being the most suitable position. The ground on all sides rises more or less rapidly to a considerable eminence nearly in the centre of the site, about 226 feet above the sea level, and forming its highest point; here stands the clock tower, and a tall flagstaff on which a signal drum is hoisted. The various sections of the camp occupy the ground sloping away from this hill towards the south and south-east, in the direction of the main line of the Southern railway. from which, at Brookwood station, a short branch or tramway is carried into the camp, with a station at the entrance. The old N.R.A. tramway which has been transferred from Wimbledon, now skirts the east side of Bisley common in rear of the principal firing points; at the entrance to the camp on the south-east are the regimental enclosures, and beyond these the N.R.A. camp, which is occupied by Territorials and other competitors not having special regimental quarters; all these lie to the south of the branch line of rail; to the north of it is the camp of the civilian stall, and a range of substantially built wooden huts, with venetian shuttered windows. The open grassy space contiguous on the north forms the bazaar, and is surrounded by the tents of various commercial firms of gun makers, opticians and others; beyond this enclosure, westward, stand the refreshment pavilion, which was rebuilt in 1924 at a cost of £25,000, the umbrella tent and exhibition building and those of various clubs, and the extreme western division of the camp is allotted to the Council Club pavilion and members' and range officers' tents; in the open ground to the north-west are the butts for the running deer and man, and close by is the firing point for the 800 to 1,200 yards range, the butts for which, Nos. 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4, comprising 50 targets, are on Stickledown, a rising ground lying almost exactly north-west beyond the Hog Lees; butts, 7, 8, 9, for rifle practice and pool, and the revolver ranges are near the clock tower; butts 10 to 19, forming the mid or principal range for 200 to 600 yards, and comprising 100 targets, are north of the camp, the direction from the firing points, as in the long range, being north-west; still more to the north are butts 20 and 21 for the 200 yards range, and 22 and 23 for 200 to 800 yards, the direction in both being nearly due west: from the clock tower a splendid view is obtained of the country all round; northward and north­westward the view is closed by the Chobham Ridges, the final butt for the most extraordinary of stray shots; southward and at a great distance the line of the Hog's Back between Guildford and Farnham runs beyond a heathery valley; eastward the country is fairly level, but green and pleasant, with villages and detached farmsteads peeping out amidst the trees; westward, the Fox hills hide Aldershot from view, but on the hither side is the Guards' camp, on Pirbright common, and another camp by Stoney Castle, not far beyond the Bisley boundaries; 3 miles north-north east is Chobham Common, the site of the military encampment of 1853. The pre-existing hedgerows, trees and bushes have been as far as possible preserved, so that the various parts of the camp lie in a kind of leafy seclusion, contrasting agreeably with the glaring whiteness and bare appearance which distinguished the Wimbledon site, but the rest of the ground is chiefly covered with heather. The annual meetings open usually on the second Monday in July in each year. The principal prizes are the King's prize, founded in 1860, and consisting of £1,270, given in 430 prizes from £1 to £250,and shot for in three stages at different distances, the best shot in the first stage receiving the bronze medal and badge of the association; in the second stage, the silver medal and badge, and in the final stage £250 given by H.M. the King, with which is presented the gold medal and badge of the association; Queen Mary's Prize, a prize in kind, given by Her Majesty the Queen, a silver medal and a bronze medal by the NRA. and money prizes amounting to £230; the competition for RH. the King's Medal for the best shot in the Land Forces at home; H.R.H. the Prince of Wales's Prize of £100, given by H.R.H. and £100 by the NRA. the latter sum being divided into graduated amounts; the Chancellor's Plate, founded in 1862, for members of Oxford and Cambridge Universities; the Ashburton Challenge Shield, presented in 1861 by Lord Ashburton for competition between the Public Schools; the Spencer Cup, presented in 1861 by the 6th Earl Spencer K.G., P.C., G.C.V.O. and competed for by one representative of each school; the Cadet Corps' Match Prize; the Elcho Challenge Shield, founded in 1862, and shot for by teams of 8, representing England, Scotland and Ireland; the Mackinnon Challenge Cup, given in 1891 for teams of 12 from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, the Channel Isles, and each of the Dominions over Seas; the China Challenge Cup, presented by the volunteers of China in 1865; the National Challenge Trophy, for representatives of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland; and St. George's Vase and Dragon Cup, with money prizes and gold and silver jewels added, restricted to past and present members of H.M. Forces; the Kolapore Challenge Cup, for representatives of the mother country, India, the Colonies and the Channel Islands, founded in 1871 by the Rajah of Kolapore, with £50 added by the N.R.A.; in addition the Junior Kolapore and Junior Mackinnon for the minor colonies attract large numbers of overseas competitors: in 1929 teams from sixteen Dominions and Colonies attended the meeting: the Public Schools Veterans' Trophy, founded in 1874; the Belgian Challenge Cup, presented in 1867 by the Brussels Chasseurs Eclaireurs, and the Mullens prizes, founded in 1881, both are now shot for by competitors in the Queen Mary's Prize. The total cash prizes at the meeting amount to over £10,000, with challenge trophies in addition. His Majesty the King is Patron of the Association; H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, president; Admiral of the Fleet Earl Jellicoe G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O. chairman; Col. Lord Cottesloe C.B., V.D., T.D. vice-chairman of the council and Major C. E. Etches O.B.E. sec. and executive officer; offices, at the Camp.

Bisley Common, to the west, is part of the Bagshot Heath District.

Post, H. 0. & Tel. Call Office. Letters through Woking Knaphill is the nearest T. office

County Police. - Constables' house, Guildford road

Conveyances. - Motor omnibuses run daily at frequent intervals between Woking, Bagshot & Guildford, passing through Bisley

Carriers. - William Hill Hoad & Son, to Guildford, tues. thurs. & fri. & to Woking, mon. wed. & sat.

Byford O. V. The Willows
Clayton Miss, Littlecote
Day J. T. Brookside
Fuller Walter John, Church
Hiron Charles John, Nutfield
Horley Rev. Chas. Montague [rector], The Rectory
Macqueen William, Bisley House
Puxley S. E. Hill place (postal address, Knaphill)
Puxley William, Reidendene
Read Edward Bruce, The Copse
Scott Col. W. The Retreat
Strong Mrs. A. L. Whitelodge
Wakefield Wm. Birkbeck F.R.G.S. Wilcot
Walkinshaw Major I. C. M.C. Reidonhurst
Wing Misses, Greyfriars
COMMERCIAL.
Adams I. (Mrs.), dairyman, Stafford Lake farm
Ames Fredk. Thos. Hen & Chickens P.H.
Barnes Bernard Brooke, builder, contractor, painter & house decorator, Guildford road. T N Brookwood 56
Bisley Schools (The Shaftesbury Homes & "Arethusa" Training Ship) (Bertram L. Read B.Sc. head master; Mrs. M. E. Read, matron). T N Brookwood 59		 Brown Fredk. The Fox inn. T N Brook wood 175
Bungalow Hospital (for the boys of the Bisley Schools) (Mrs. E. F.M. Westhury, sister in charge)
Burns Reguld. W. motor engnr. Fox garage. T N Brookwood 206
Cheeseman E. & Sons, decrtrs.T N Brookwood 18
Cherryman Horace, farmer, Bullhousen fm
Cowle Saml. Ernest, farmer, Clews farm
Coxon Fredk. H. haulage contrctr. T N Brookwood 161
Daborn C. & Son, nurserymen, The Nurseries. T N Brookwood 12
Elliott Thos. Wm. & Sons, dairymen
Fennell Wm. plumber. T N Brookwood 140
Fuller Walter John, dairyman, Church la
Grainger Fredk. J. farmer, Ashgrove
Hawkins Wm. refrshmnt. rms
Hayward Ernest A.nurseryman, Reidon hl
Henbest Murray, dairyman
Hill James, farmer
Hoad William Hill & Son, carriers, South view
Hone Hy. W. confetnr. & post office. T N Brookwood 279
Hone Stephen Jsph. farmer, Miles Green
Loveland Jn. smallholder
 Matthews Annie & Jessie (Misses), laundry, Clew's la
National Rifle Association (Major C. E. Etches O.B.E. sec.), The Camp. TN Brookwood 13
National Rifle Association, refreshment contractors, Bisley pavilion, Bisley camp
Princess Christian's Brookwood Homes & Workshops for Disabled Soldiers & Sailors (Incorporated Soldiers'& Sailors' Help Society) (Maj. Gen. Sir W. G. Bertram Boyce K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O. sec.; Maj. F. S. Bosbell D.S.O., MC. supt.) T N Brookwood 21
Princess Claristian's Convalescent Hospital (G. W. Morris Pritchett M.R.C.S. Eng., L.R. C. P Lond. medical officer)
Richardson Geo. F. poultry farmer, Hill View farm. T N Brookwood 118
Steptoe Stephen, farmer
Stevens Fred, contractor, Stanley farm. T N Brookwood 104
Village Institute (Geo. Richardson, hon. sec)
Wilson Bros. & Mumfords, timber mers.Guildford rd
Wing Fras. Hy. farmer
Woodham Chas. dairyman, The Brambles
Wye Hosea, farmer