KELLY'S Directory of Surrey 1938

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BISLEY is a parish and village, 2 miles north from Brook-wood station on the South Western section of the Southern railway, 4 north-west from Woking, 8 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, rural deanery of Woking, archdeaconry of Dorking and diocese of Guildford. Gas and electricity are available. Water is supplied by the- Woking Water and Gas Co. 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, one of which was cast in 1549 and is said to be the oldest bell in Surrey: the ancient chalice bears the date 1670; 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 160 sittings. The register dates from the year 1661, 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 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 well was restored in 1938 by H. P. Lawson esq. 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 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 1890. 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 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. B. 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., O.B.E. is lord of the manor, and the National Rifle Association and the War Department are the chief landowners. The soil is loam ; subsoil, clay, gravel and sand. The chief crops are wheat, oats; beans and swedes. The area is 907 acres ; the population in 1931 was 1,099 in the civil and 1,151 in the ecclesiastical parish.

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. 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 staffs and a range of substantially, built wooden huts, with Venetian shuttered windows. The open grassy space con­tiguous on the north formsa 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 north-westward 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 partsof the camp lie in a kind of leafy seclusion, 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 £1,210, given in 440 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 Queen Mary, a silver medal and a bronze medal by the N.R.A, and money prizes amounting to £230; the competition for H.M. the King's Medal for the best shot in the Territorial Army; H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester's Prize; 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 Specer 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 Duke of Gloucester, president; Col. Lord Cottesloe C.B., V.D., T.D. chairman; Lt-Col. Sir Philip W. Richardson bart. O.B.E., V.D. vice-chairman of the council and Major C. E. Etches C.B., O.B.E, sec. and executive officer.; offices, at the Camp
Bisley Common, to the west, is part of the Bagshot Heath District.

Post,. & M. O. Office. Letters through Woking. Knaphill 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.

PRIVATE RESIDENTS.
(for T N's see general list of Private Residents at end of book.)
Hiron Charles John, Hylands
Horley Rev. Chas. Montague [rector], The Rectory
Read Capt. A. H. Reidonhurst
Read Edward Bruce, The Copse
Seawright George, The Old Cottage
Shackleton William S. The Willows
Strong Mrs. A. L. Whitelodge, Miles Green
Wakefield Wm. Birkbeck F.R.G.S. Wilcot
Walkinshaw Major I. C. M.C. Mill house
Whitehorn Mrs. Elmfield house
COMMERCIAL.
Adams Isobel. (Mrs.), dairyman, Stafford Lake farm
Ashcroft Wilfred, motor cab propr. Wybridge
Baker Stephen Jn. farmer, Stafford Lake
Bisley Schools (The Shaftesbury Homes & "Arethusa" Training Ship) (Bertram L. Read B.Sc. head master; Mrs. M. E. Read, matron). Brookwood 2159
Bungalow Hospital (for the boys of the Bisley Schools) (Mrs. Rose Edith Templeman, sister in charge)
Burns Regnld. W. motor engnr. Fox garage. Brookwood 3206
Carpenter Graham Ernest, poultry farmer, Wandella, Queens rd
Cheeseman E. & Sons, decrtrs (postal address, Knap Hill, Woking) Brookwood 2118
    Cherryman Horace, farmer, Bullhousen farm. Brookwood 3244
Chinery Eliza (Mrs.), boading ho. Brookside, Guildford rd
Coxon Fredk. H. haulage contrctr. Brookwood 3161
Daydawn Nurseries (J. Mee propr.), Guildford rd
Dealtry Annie (Mrs.), shopkpr. Guildford rd
Dicker Gilbt. P. shopkpr. & post office. Brookwood 3279
Elliott Thos. Wm. & Sons, dairymen, Elmgrove farm
Fennell Wm. plumber. Brookwood 3140
Fox Inn (H. S. Birks). Brookwood 3175
Fuller Wltr Jn, Brickworth, dairyman, Church la. Brookwood 3226
Gibbs Regnld. Wm. poultry farmer, Queen's la
Grainger Fredk. J. farmer, Ashgrove
Hayward Ernest R. nurseryman, Chatten Row & Loam Pits nurseries
Hen & Chicken P.H. (Thos. Burrett Lee)
Henbest Murray, dairyman. Ford farm
Hilder Chas. coal mer. Guildford rd Brookwood 3213
Hill Jas. farmer, Strawberry farm
Hoad William Hill & Son, carriers, South view
Knighton Arth. butcher, Guildford rd Brookwood 2254
Lewry Albt. Jas. dairyman, School farm. Brookwood 3171
Loveland Jon. smallholder
   Matthews Annie & Jessie (Misses), laundry, Clew's la
Morris Adeline (Mrs.), tea rms, Newbridge cott
National Rifle Association (Maj. C. E. Etches C.B., O.B.E. sec.), The Camp. Brookwood 2213
National Rifle Association, refrshmnt. Contrctrs. Bisley pavilion, Bisley Camp. Brookwood 2211 Princess Christian Brookwood Homes & Workshops for Disabled Soldiers & Sailors (Incorporated Soldiers' & Sailors' Help Society) (Miss Acton, sec, ; Fredk. Ernest Snape M.M. supt.). Brookwood 2121
Princess Christian's Convalescent Hospital (G. W. Morris Pritchett M.B.O.S. Eng., L,R.C.P.Lond. medical officer)
Richardson Geo. F. poultry farmer. Hill pl
Selley Jn. R. refrshmnt. rms. Queen's rd
Slocock W. C. Ltd. nurserymen, Hill pl
Steptoe Stephen Chas. smallholder
Stevens Edwd. farmer, Stanley farm. Chobham rd. (postal address, Knap Hill, Woking). Brookwood 3104
Stevens Fred; contrctr. Stanley farm (postal address, Knap hill Woking). Brookwood 3104 Village Institute (Geo. Richardson, hon. Sec)
Wagstaff Arth. Herbt. insur. agt. Rosecroft
Wing Fras. Hy. farmer
Wye Hosea, farmer, Wisdom farm