Oakley Court

Oakley Court is a Victorian Gothic country house set in 35 acres (140,000 m²) overlooking the River Thames at Water Oakley in the civil parish of Bray in the English county of Berkshire. It was built in 1859 and is currently a luxury hotel. It is a Grade II* listed building that has been often used as a film location.

The Court was built in 1859 for Sir Richard Hall Say who married Ellen Evans of Boveney Court in 1857. He was appointed High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1864 and Justice of the Peace in 1865. In 1874 Oakley Court was sold to Lord Otho FitzGerald, then to a John Lewis Phipps and in 1900 to Sir William Beilby Avery of Avery Scales. In 1919 Ernest Olivier purchased the property together with 50 acres (200,000 m²) of Berkshire woodland for £27,000.

Richard Hall-Say built Oakley Court in 1859 two years after his marriage. He was born as Richard Hall in 1827. His father was Richard Hall, a merchant, but it was his mother Harriet Say that brought to him his great wealth. She was the daughter and co-heir of Robert Say who owned Pennington Hall near Manchester. When her uncle the Rev. Henry Say who had no heirs died in 1855 Richard became his heir took the additional name of Say to become Richard Hall-Say.

In 1857 he married Ellen Evans who was the only child of Edward Evans of Boveney Court in Windsor. The couple had six children two boys and four girls. Their eldest daughter Mary Violet Hall-Say married the Rev Arthur Henry Austen Leigh who was the great nephew of Jane Austen, the famous writer.

In about 1874 the Hall-Say family sold Oakley Court to Lord Otho Fitzgerald.

Otho Fitzgerald lived in Oakley Court from 1874 until his death in 1882. He was born in 1827 in London and was the third son of the Duke of Leinster. He entered the army and served in the Royal Horse Guards. He was elected as a Member of Parliament and was appointed to several official positions in the Queen’s Household. He was an amateur photographer and several of his photographs are in the Royal Collection. He was also a musical composer and wrote a piece called “The Spirit of the Ball”.

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