Broxhead estate was purchased in 1902. Broxhead House was built by Admiral Foley in 1877. The Foleys were a Worcestershire family who had made their fortune in iron and coal, and the head of the family was ennobled as Lord Foley. The arms of Foley, which were on the house, now demolished, can still be seen on the arches at the side of the new laboratories. Some of the land was used for the building of Louisburg Barracks and stables for the Royal Field Artillery. By 1915 the stables were said to have housed two to three thousand horses and mules. Situated on the other side of Station Road and aligned at right angles to it, were five blocks of married quarters. Four of the blocks accommodated 21 families and the fifth 19 families. Each block was given a name, taking the letters of the alphabet in turn. The naming started with these blocks and they were known as Atherton, Belvoir, Cottismore, Dartmoor and Exmoor. The naming then continued round into the married quarters of Budds Lane.

Until the outbreak of the 1939 -1945 war Broxhead House was the residence of the General Officer Commanding and later the Brigade Commander.

It then became the Headquarters of the newly created Bordon and Longmoor Sub-Area (formed from HQ Bordon Garrison) until the latter moved to Batts Hall, Frensham in November 1940. The Canadians then took over the house and for the remainder of the war used it as their Headquarters.

After the departure of the Canadians, the building was first used as a medical reception station and from November 1950 to January 1952 as a hotel for officers, but this was not a success. It then became the Headquarters of the Army Emergency Reserve REME, later Central Volunteer Headquarters REME, until they moved into Louisburg Barracks in 1979. Wolfe Lodge was sold off in 1981, closely followed by Broxhead House itself to Molex. The latter was mostly demolished in 1983 so that only one turret and a few of the arches remain, laboratories being built on the rest of the house site. It is now named Lion Court.

The Funeral of King Edward VII 1910

Members of the Royal Family often visited the Royal Pavilion at Aldershot and then rode over to Bordon. Edward VII visited Longmoor when he was Prince of Wales. When he died in May 1910, a large portion of the troops including the 3 ^rd Infantry Brigade entrained at Bordon Station in the early hours of the following Friday, to attend the funeral.

Visit of King George V in 1910 and his Coronation in 1911

Two months after the death of his father, King George V came to Longmoor to see the work of the Mounted Infantry. He also visited Bordon and was photographed riding along Station Road with his entourage.

On the first Tuesday in July 1911 the whole of the 3 ^rd Infantry Brigade entrained at Bordon Station to be present at the Coronation pageant. They went to Waterloo and then marched to City Road and Islington to line the streets for the Royal Procession. They returned late on Thursday night. .

St. George’s Garrison Church

Services were held in the Gymnasium from the opening of the camp and then transferred to the C. of E. Soldiers Institute, when their new hall was built in 1906. In February 1921 St. George’s Garrison Church was erected in Budds Lane, where a plaque now marks the spot. The organ and many of the church furnishings came from the Army depot at the Curragh after Southern Ireland became a Republic in 1907.

The most treasured and impressive possession of the church is the Reredos, which is a memorial to all units who have served in Bordon and was dedicated in 22 ^nd July 1964 by the Chaplain General, the Venerable I.D.Neill, CB OBE MA, Chaplain to the Queen. The Memorial is in the form of a large painting. It shows the central figure of Christ standing on a mound, with four uniformed kneeling figures dressed and armed in the style of the South African War, the First and Second World Wars and Korean War, with a Chaplain standing giving the blessing. In the background are depicted all the Arms and Corps, who have served in Bordon. This magnificent painting was executed by the then unknown artist David Shepherd. Half of the £1,000 cost of the painting was subscribed by units and other bodies, who had connections with the camp, and half by HQ Bordon Garrison.

The Reredos is the property of St. George’s Garrison Church and the Chaplain General for the time being, but in the event of there being no Garrison Church in Bordon at some future date, then the Reredos becomes the property of the Royal Army Chaplains Department Depot. The copyright of the painting is vested in the owner i.e. St. George’s Church and the Chaplain General, subject to the approval of the artist to any reproduction being made.

In 1983, the Church, known as the Tin Tabernacle, in Budds Lane was demolished and the contents transferred to a building in Station Road, which started life as the R.A. Institute in 1906. The church is situated on the ground floor with rooms for the Chaplain behind, and a reception room on the first floor.

Roman Catholic Garrison Church

During the building of Bordon Camp, masses for Catholic servicemen were held in a marquee erected on St Lucia Barracks square. This arrangement continued until Guadaloupe Barracks was completed in 1905, when a hut was set aside in the corner of Kildare Close. With the outbreak of the First World War, this hut was required for living accommodation. From then until 1919, masses were celebrated wherever there was a site available, using a portable altar which could be set up in canteens, on the parade or recreation grounds, or even in the Church of England Institute near the Post Office.

In 1919 a building, which had been erected during the War as a canteen, was taken over as a church, and this was situated opposite Martinique House. It was named the Sacred Heart Church and was initially heated by solid fuel stoves, followed by electric fires. This wooden hut was demolished in 1990 and a brick church built opposite the top of Chalet Hill.

Military Cemetery

The original military cemetery was on the west side of the A325 where the Woolmer trading estate in now. The cemetery gates still remained after relocation of the site until the trading estate was built.

Curiously, there is no evidence that it was ever used, and the mother of the late John Ellis said that it was never used. All descriptions of military burials at this time indicate that the deceased were buried in either Headley or Greatham churchyards. In March 1908 it was reported that good progress was being made with a new cemetery and that shrubs had been planted. This new cemetery was opened in April 1910 in Bolley Avenue amidst the pine woods. It was consecrated when the Chaplain-General to the Forces, the Rt. Rev. Bishop I. Taylor-Smith CVO DD performed the ceremony assisted by Rev P.P.Raymond, Senior Chaplain to the Forces, Aldershot. Brigadier General F.Hammersley GOC Bordon Command was present and the cemetery was surrounded by troops representing each of the various units of the garrison, whilst musical portion of the ceremony was led by the band of the 3 ^rd Battalion Rifle Brigade.

The burial ground is for serving members of the Regular Forces and their dependants. Many Canadian and South African soldiers who served in Bordon during the two World Wars are also interred there, as were nine American soldiers whose bodies were later returned to America.

Separate areas are set aside for the various denominations. For a long while there was a solitary grave in the east corner for No. 16831 Private Jacobus Henry Darlew of the 2 ^nd Regiment South African Infantry, who died on 30 ^th September 1918. It was long speculated that either he was a suicide or a black man. Major Reed solved the mystery of why he was alone, when he discovered that he belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church for which there was no reserved plot. There is now a companion grave of a Gurkha, so he is no longer alone.

There is also a grave in the cemetery of Mrs Alice Emily Chandler, the only civilian to be killed in Bordon by a falling enemy bomb on 16 ^th August 1940. She lived in Station Road in the old Coachman’s cottage, where the coachman who had driven the horse-drawn firetender had lived. The siren for an air raid was sounded and she went back into her house to retrieve her canary. Unfortunately, the bomb was then dropped and it landed on her house demolishing it and killing Mrs Chandler. A Canadian Officer and two NCOs were also killed during this raid and the stables at the fire station were set alight.

Bordon Officers’ Sports Club
(now Bordon and Oakhanger Sports Club or BOSC)

By 1910, the cricket ground and a pavilion were laid out to the north of Gibbs Lane. The clubhouse was built in 1922, and paid for by the then serving officers of the Garrison. It consisted of a smoking and dining room, a gentlemen’s cloakroom, a ladies’ room and ladies cloakroom and a steward’s quarter. The cricket pavilion became the groundsman’s store. The occupancy was regularised in 1928 when a 21 year lease was drawn up.

In the mid 1930s two squash courts, a badminton court, card room and kitchen were added to the clubhouse, and eight grass and two hard tennis courts and polo, hockey and rugby grounds were also added. As a result of this a new lease was assigned to OC Troops, Bordon in 1936, and a year later was transferred to the United Services Trustees.

Between the wars the Club was a hive of activity. Two silver cups for polo (the Daly Cup and the Polo Cup) was battled for every fortnight; the ladies came down most afternoons in the summer to play tennis and frequent tennis and badminton tournaments were held; there was a flourishing bridge club, and innumerable dances.

A new lease was granted in 1949 for a further period of 21 years, but this was superseded 12 years later in 1961 by another 21 year lease. The reason for this early renewal was that in 1959, because of financial problems and the difficulty of obtaining the services of a groundsman, the Club persuaded the War Department to take over the eight tennis courts and the cricket and hockey grounds, and so bring the number of Garrison grounds up to scale. In February 1961 these, together with the groundsman’s store, were handed over to be maintained by the Works Organisation (later PSA) and a new 21 year lease was drawn up. The children’s playground at the end of the tennis court area remained the property of the Club.

One of the outstanding Club personalities was the steward ‘Pop’ Alder, who could recall officers and events going back to the First World War. He had been head groundsman for the Garrison in the early 1920s and on his retirement became Club Steward. He was a lovable character who gave good and faithful service to the Club for 31 years, and died still in harness; he was buried on 16 May 1958 in Frensham parish churchyard.

In 1977, when the Army School of Transport left the Garrison, the number of serving officers making use of the Club dwindled rapidly, which, combined with impending construction of new squash courts in Havannah Barracks and a new officers’ mess, made it clear that there was little justification for retaining a Club as a place of recreation for serving officers; and by 1980 the executive management of the Club had been put into the hands of a civilian committee.

In 1995, as part of the VJ Day 50 ^th Anniversary celebrations, BOSC was used for a cricket match between the Army and the Town. The Mayor, Councillor Don Mayes sponsored a shield and replicas for the winning services team, and mementos for the Town team.

The Empire Club

On 17 ^th December 1913 the Empire Club was opened as a Soldiers’ Club by Field Marshal Lord Methuen GCB GCVO GOC-in-C South Africa, the cost being met by a grant of £8,000 to the GOC-in-C Aldershot Command, Lieutenant General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien GCB DSO, from the funds of the South African Institutes. The architect responsible for the building was Major R.N. Harvey DSO, RE and Major H.K.Pritchard DSO, RE was in charge of the work, with Captain and Quarter Master A.Jones late RE as the Clerk of Works.

It may be assumed that the Club flourished during the First World War and immediately afterwards, but in the early 1930s both the NAAFI and YMCA attempted to run it and failed to make a profit. In January 1938 the YMCA gave up their lease and the building remained empty until July 1938, when Bordon Entertainments Ltd took the Club on a 21 year lease.

In the early days King George V Gardens adjoining the Club were beautifully kept up by a full time gardener, and on Sundays after Church Parade the bands of the Regiments stationed in Bordon used to play in the bandstand in the gardens. Originally there were also two grass tennis courts and a bowling green.

In 1946 it was suggested that NAAFI should again take over the running of the Club, leaving the cinema under the control of Bordon Entertainments Ltd, but this was never carried out. Instead the NAAFI opened a Garrison Club in Louisburg Barracks South.

Many improvements were made to the old Soldier’s Club, including the conversion of the dance hall into a cinema shortly after taking over the premises, and the provision of a new ballroom and bar in May 1955. A lido was opened in 1963, where mothers could take their children to paddle in safety.

On 5/6 March 1948, a serious fire occurred in the Club resulting in approximately £3,000 worth of damage being caused. In October 1952 Bordon Entertainments Ltd obtained a new lease for 42 years. Mr H.J.Randall was appointed Manager of the Club in 1938 and became Tenant/Proprietor ten years later. The Empire Club was burnt down in 1987, when it was in the ownership of the District Council. The insurance money was going to be used for an Arts Centre but this never materialised. The site is now occupied by houses and forms part of Pinewood Village.

Oxney Farm

Oxney Farm is situated immediately north of the “new” Martinique Barracks (now demolished) and, was the training ground for many cadet units

where they camped under canvas. On occasion a visiting general would inspect them. In August 1912 Lord Roberts, or ‘Bobs Bahadur’ as he was affectionately known, inspected the Officers’ Training Corps. Many civilians came to witness the occasion, which was his last visit to Bordon, as two years later he died of pneumonia at the Front in France.

Oxney Farm was between the wars the home of the Bordon Drag Hounds, which was run by the officers of the artillery regiments stationed in Louisburg Barracks and was the successor of a drag hunt maintained at Longmoor by the Mounted Infantry School. The Bordon Drag met on Mondays and Fridays to hunt the fox and on Thursdays to follow the drag. The hunt was not revived after the 1939-45 War, the last Master before the War being Lt J C D Ellison RA, with Gunner Legge as kennel huntsman.

The Aldershot Beagles occupied Oxney Farm Kennels since 1948, when they moved from Iveley Farm, Aldershot, a move necessitated by the extension of the runway at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough. They were a military pack and had been in existence since 1870, first in Aldershot, where they were kennelled near the Dust Holes (military slang for the Cemetery) until 1895 when they moved to Iveley Farm.

One of the outstanding characters of the Aldershot Beagles in their early days was Eli Cranston, who joined the pack in May 1888 and faithfully served them until he retired in 1937. He died 23 years later, aged 93. In 1970, to mark the centenary of the founding of the pack, a presentation was made to Brigadier F M S Gibson who had been Joint Master since 1950. The gift was a painting of the hounds hunting near Holybourne painted by Brigadier J B Oldfield, then Chief of Staff, South East District and Chairman of the Hunt.

At the outbreak of War 1914

In August 1914 many troops and their relatives arrived in Bordon in their hundreds. The troops were confined to barracks and then the 1 ^st Gloucestershire Regiment and the 1 ^st South Wales Borderers were given four hours to prepare to leave as part of the British Expeditionary Force to France. Almost in silence half of them marched to the station in the middle of the night, only the wives and children gave them a final farewell wave as they passed the married quarters. On arrival at the station, the train was waiting in the sidings, the baggage and horses were quickly entrained and they left for Southampton. The remaining troops that left during the day had a cheerful send off. The Queens were heard singing ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’ as the train left the station. The Welch went off in similar style, some had small Union Jacks affixed to their rifles and the cry ‘Are we downhearted?’ was heard with the reply ‘No!’

On 3 ^rd October there was a royal review at Oxney Farm Camping Ground. The King, Queen, Princess Mary and Lord Kitchener visited the camp to see the young men from offices, fields and factories, who were the recruits for Kitchener’s Army. There were 17,000 men in Bordon and 15,000 of them were present for the inspection. They were part of the 3 ^rd Army, were in civilian attire and hardly any carried weapons. The King and his military suite were dressed in the khaki of the battlefield.

By the 10 ^th October there were 20,000 troops in camp and the first German prisoners arrived at Bordon. While they were waiting for their train to Longmoor, a troop train filled with about 500 Artillery of Kitchener’s Army, arrived at the other platform. When it became known that there were German prisoners there, the more adventurous rushed to see them. Hardly had they been there a few minutes before a corporal, with about six days seniority, came along and in a loud voice ordered them to return to their train.

By New Year 1915, Scotsmen formed the vast majority of the Garrison in Bordon. New Year’s Day was a holiday ushered in by pipes and drums played around the barracks. They celebrated all day but the bad weather kept them indoors. The officers of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers entertained the Earl of Selborne KG and Brigadier General Wilkinson GOC with songs and music including Auld Lang Syne and the National Anthem.

Further additions to the MOD estate

No further major building was done until just before the 1939-45 War, but in the mid 1920s considerable additions were made to the estate. In 1924 32 acres in Alexandra Park, Bordon were purchased and in 1927 916 acres of farm land and common land between Bordon and Oakhanger, and at Kingsley, were bought for use as additional training areas (see map on page 3). Barrack building restarted in 1935 when the old South African type huts in St Lucia and Quebec Barracks were replaced by the standard brick 100-men barrack blocks, some of which still remain in use, modernised. At this time too Havannah Barracks was built, to another standard design known as the Sandhurst Block, the purpose of which was to house a battalion or regiment all under one roof. This still remains, extensively modernised and added to from 1977 onwards. On 27 ^th June 1984 Havannah Barracks were renamed Prince Philip Barracks by Gen. Sir Richard Trent, KCB.

The last project before the Second World War was the building of a wooden hutted camp near Oxney Farm. This was named Martinique Barracks and the old Martinique was renamed Louisburg South. The new Martinique was dismantled in 1983 by contractors for erection elsewhere - a tribute to the quality of the original construction.

The Canadians in Bordon during the Second World War

On the outbreak of the 1939-45 War, the 3 ^rd Infantry Brigade was in Bordon. However, on its departure to join the British Expeditionary Force the Canadian Army virtually took over Bordon, although a British Officer Brigadier W J O’B Daunt was appointed Commander Bordon and Longmoor Sub-Area, formed in September 1939. This was changed to Bordon Sub-District in May 1943, and was located at Batts Hall, Frensham. In January 1945 Bordon came under the command of South Aldershot Sub-District, with Brigadier F A V Copland-Griffiths DSO MC in command.

Two more camps were built in Bordon during the 1939-45 War, but have since disappeared. Upper Oakhanger Camp was on the site of the present married officers’ quarters in Bolley Avenue and was occupied by the Canadians until after the war. Then the Ministry of Supply occupied it to conduct the sale of surplus Army vehicles, gathered together and covering the whole of Slab Common. The camp was dismantled in about 1950 to make way for officers’ quarters (Nos 5 - 20 Bolley Avenue).

Lower Oakhanger Camp, situated below the level crossing in Station Road, was also occupied by the Canadians until the latter end of the war, when it became a German POW camp. After the war it was used by European Volunteer Workers who left in the mid-fifties, when it was dismantled and used as a helicopter practice landing ground by RAF Odiham. The School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Officers’ Mess (now called Havannah Officers’ Mess) was built on the site in 1979.

At the junction of Budds Lane and Station Road, in the apex of the roads, stood the Canadian Fire Station, a site chosen for its strategic position to deal with fires in either of the two adjacent hutted camps or in the Canadian Workshop, now the Technical Training Area of the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (SEME).

SEME Technical Training Area

In 1942 work started on the construction of the large sheds in what is now the Technical Training Area of the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering; the inscription on the north-east corner of Building 74 records the event: “This corner stone laid by Gen A C L McNaughton CB CMG DSO MC GOC-in-C 1st Canadian Army. Built for Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps by Royal Canadian Engineers. MCMXLII.”

The unit occupying these buildings was 1 Canadian Base Workshop and here also much equipment and many vehicles were stockpiled for the invasion of Europe in 1944.

On the departure of the Canadians in 1946, the workshop area was shared between 3 Central Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and 44 Ordnance Sub Depot, whose parent unit was the Central Ordnance Depot at Chilwell. These two units were eventually replaced, respectively by 6 (Vehicle) Training Battalion REME in 1951 and by 4 (Armament) Training Battalion REME in 1959

In February 1961 the two battalions amalgamated to form the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, and later in the year absorbed two battalions in the REME Training Brigade, 8 Training Battalion at Taunton and 10 Training Battalion at Gosport. The Ceremonial Amalgamation of 4 and 6 Training Battalions was held on 17 March 1961, when a plaque commemorating the event was unveiled by Major General D A K Redmond OBE, Director of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

Then in 1972, the 9 ^th Field Workshop (Force Troops) REME was formed, only to be absorbed five years later by the 3 ^rd Field Workshop REME, also a newcomer to Bordon. The 3 ^rd Field Workshop was formed in April 1977 an amalgamation of three REME units: 3 ^rd Field Workshop (Airportable) located at Weyhill, near Andover; the Workshop Squadron of the Parachute Logistic Regiment located at Aldershot; and the aforementioned 9 ^th Field Workshop (Force Troops). 9 ^th Field Workshop however continued to retain its identity as 9 ^th Field Workshop (Logistic Support Group) REME, and remained in Bordon. With the reorganisation of the field Army, previous company-sized workshops were grouped into battalions. By happy coincidence the first REME battalion was 6 Battalion, shortly to be replaced by 4 Battalion, thus replicating the training battalions which had for so long been in Bordon. Purpose-built accommodation was completed in June 1995 and in 1998 Vosper Thorneycroft started the teaching contract. 4 Battalion REME arrived in March 2000. In April 2004 SEME became part of the Defence College of Electro-Mechanical Engineering (DCEME) in partnership with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. A welcoming ceremony for Commodore Neil Latham, who has overall responsibility of the new school, was held at Prince Philip Barracks.

Other units arrive

Another unit to move to Bordon on the department of the Canadians was the newly formed Army Motor Transport School, who in July 1946 moved from Rhyl, North Wales, under the command of Brigadier J S Marsh CBE MC. The School was formed from the RAC Driving School at Bovington and the pre-war RA and RASC Driving Schools at Woolwich and Feltham respectively.

It was at this time that Bordon reverted to an independent command in the form of a Garrison, with Longmoor under the command of an Officer Commanding Troops, Longmoor.

The Light Infantry Brigade Training Centre also moved into Quebec and St Lucia Barracks sometime after the departure of the Canadians, until in about 1952, under the command of Lt Col J F Snow, Somerset Light Infantry, they moved to Strensall and later to Shrewsbury. The Depot Battalion RASC, under the command of Lt Col ‘Battler’ Smith, then moved up from Newton Abbot to occupy Quebec and St Lucia Barracks in the latter part of 1952.

1952 also saw the formation of the Headquarters Army Emergency Reserve REME, who occupied Broxhead House. The 1967, when the Army Emergency Reserve and the Territorial Army were re-organised into the Territorial Army Volunteer Reserve, HQ AER REME was renamed the Central Volunteer Headquarters REME, and later HQ REME TA. In 1979 they left the rural atmosphere of Broxhead House and moved into Louisburg Barracks.

At the end of the 1950s the units in Bordon began to thin out. In 1959, 44 Ordnance Sub Depot (which by then had changed its name to MT Stores Sub Depot) was disbanded, as also was another RAOC unit, the War Department Laundry on Broxhead Common. Then in April 1961 the Junior Leaders Battalion RASC moved from St Lucia Barracks to Norton Manor Camp, Taunton, and 2½ years later, in December 1963 the Depot RASC returned to its pre-War location in Buller Barracks, Aldershot.

Another change which took place during the 1960s, besides the formation of the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering already mentioned, was the disbandment in July 1965 of the Army MT School as an Independent unit. It re-emerged as the MT Wing of the newly formed School of Transport at Longmoor. By 1977, the Army Personnel Carrier Division of this Wing had gone full circle, for when in that year the Army School of Transport moved to Leconfield in North Humberside, the APC Division remained in Bordon. It became the Infantry Wing of the RAC Centre Driving and Maintenance School at Bovington, one of the units from which the original Army MT School was formed in 1946.

Married Quarters

The first major post-War married quarters building programme was carried out during the 1960s, when two new roads were constructed known as Oakley and Beaufort Roads, along which 68 terraced soldiers’ quarters were completed between November 1961 and February 1962.

Then in 1963 Guadaloupe Barracks, together with the old terraced married quarters in Budds Lane, were demolished and 200 new quarters erected by October 1964. Further modernisation continued in 1965 on the site of San Domingo Barracks, when a new type of construction, called Jespersens, was introduced consisting of factory made components being lowered into position by cranes and bolted together. The first of these 197 quarters was taken over in June 1966 and the whole project was finished by November 1967. During the second phase of this operation, the old terraced married quarters in Station Road were demolished to make way for 80 more of these Jespersens.

In 1979, 142 of the Jespersen quarters, which were no longer needed by the military, were leased to East Hampshire District Council and were quickly occupied by Council tenants.

On 31 ^st March 1987, having purchased these houses and adjacent property, the Council decided to demolish them and build the Pinewood Village estate. The commencement of demolition of Exmoor Close was ceremonially carried out by a Chieftain tank on loan from the army and supervised by Captain Rod Paul, in conjunction with the District Council.

The most recent build of married quarters was in 1976 when 20 officers’ quarters were put up in Bolley Avenue and 200 soldiers’ quarters were erected on the site of St Lucia Barracks. Part of Quebec Barracks was also demolished in 1976 to make way for 92 married quarters for RAF families. In May 2003 RAF Oakhanger was handed over to Paradigm Services and these quarters were no longer needed by the RAF.

Martinique House Community Centre

The gap left by the demolition of the C. of E. Institute and Brownlow hall was partially filled in 1972 when Martinique House, formerly the residence of the officer commanding the unit in the original Martinique Barracks, was converted into a Community Centre, and a large hall added.

Medical and Dental Centres

The original Medical and Dental Centres are now occupied by the Accommodation Stores Accountants and the Thrift Shop, whilst the old Families Clinic houses the staff of the Families Housing and Welfare Service. New Medical and Dental Centres were built in November 1964 opposite to the Empire Club and were once affectionately known as the ‘Mississippi Steamboat’ on account of the shape of the building and the steel chimney that used to rise above it. The Medical and Dental centres are in the process of moving to new accommodation off Budds Lane.

Commanders of Bordon Garrison

In November 1902 the first General Officer (Major General C W H Douglas) was appointed to command Bordon and Longmoor, but in May 1904 the appointment was reduced to the rank of Brigadier General and so continued until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. After the War, Brigadier Generals were down graded to Colonels Commandant.

The first Commander in Bordon to hold this rank was Colonel Commandant A C Daly CB CMG appointed in June 1919, after whom the Daly Football Ground is named. This rank did not last long, and in November 1927 Brigadier G Thorpe CMG DSO was appointed Commander of Bordon and Longmoor, the rank of Brigadier having been substituted for that of Colonel Commandant.

During the 1939-45 War, Bordon and Longmoor Sub-Area was created, later to be called Bordon Sub-Area, but after the War Bordon reverted to an independent command in the form of a Garrison, with Longmoor under the command of an Officer Commanding Troops. The first Garrison Commander was Brigadier Marsh, who combined the dual role of Commandant Army MT School and Garrison Commander. This arrangement continued until the disbandment of Hampshire Sub-District in 1968, when Longmoor/Bordon Garrison was created, with the Commandant Army School of Transport as Garrison Commander.

In 1977 when the Army School of Transport moved from Longmoor, Bordon Garrison was created, with Commandant School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering as Garrison Commander.