Page 1085 - Reading Mercury

then valued at £200 and the contractor’s charges were £2, 275 2s. 5d. The furniture
cost £37, the books £5 15s. and the desks £68.
The original Palmer Schools were set up elsewhere in the town, in Denmark Street
and Rose Street under the direction of the late Dr. Charles and Martha Palmer and free
schooling was provided up to.1891.
Throughout the late 1800s the school was added to until 145 and 352 other children
were educated there. The school was church aided and remained so until 1964.
Throughout the early 1970s children from the school were sent to other infant schools
in the area, and eventually on May 23rd 1973 Palmer School was closed and the new
school opened in Norreys Avenue.
The old school had many fond memories for the thousands of children who went to
it and many of them will be sad to see it pulled down. Wokingham District Council
bought the land last year, decided that accommodation for old people was needed near
the town centre, and that the Palmer School site was ideal.
The council bought the land for approximately £34,000. The design and supervision
of the building will cost at least £45,000 and the cost of building a further £450,000.
The final cost is likely to be in excess of £600,000. A far cry from a century ago when
the land cost £200 and the contractor’s bill was just over £2,275.
To look on the bright side, 85 elderly people will be re-housed in suitable
accommodation, leaving vacant council housing for families. The units will be 12
one-person warden-assisted units, 12 two two-person warden-assisted units, one five-
person warden’s house, 16 two-person self-contained flats, and four three-person self-
contained flats. This will give the council a good degree of flexibility in
accommodating elderly people.
Work on the new building will not start immediately. Traders are expected to be
invited in April or May next year and they will probably have to be submitted to the
Department of Environment before the work can go ahead.

nd
Thur 2 Dec
FORMER LORD LIEUT. OF BERKSHIRE DIES
A former Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, Major the Hon. David Smith, died last week
aged 69. He held the post of Lord Lieutenant for 16 years before resigning for health
reasons at the end of last year. He died of a heart attack on Thursday night.
Major Smith who lived at Kings Copse House, Bucklebury, was the third son of the
second Viscount Hambleden. He was educated at Eton and Oxford and was associated
with the family company of W. H. Smith and Son all his working life.
He joined the firm in 1930 and was governing director from 1948 until 1969. He left
the board in 1972. At the time of his death he was still on the board of the firm’s
policy-making public company W. H. Smith and Son (Holdings) Ltd.
He became chairman when the company was formed in 1949 and retained the
position until 1972. Major Smith was also on the board of Lloyds Bank.
In 1931 he married Lady Helen Pleydell-Bouverie and the couple had four sons and
one daughter.
Between 1939 and 1953 they lived at Pangbourne where Major Smith was a church
warden at Pangbourne Church. During that time he was the chairman of the local
branch of the British Legion and president of the Pangbourne Conservative
Association.
During the war Major Smith served in the Royal Artillery at the War Office and on
the staff of Southern Command.

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