Royal Army Veterinary Corps Laboratory, Fitzwygram House

Fitzwygram House, Royal Army Veterinary Corps Laboratory, Veterinary School, Lecture Theatre and Horse Theatre

Built in 1899 and designed by Lieutenant Colonel W. Pitt, Fitzwygram House is constructed of red brick with sandstone cills, Staffordshire blue plinth moulding, and slate roofs finished with decorative red clay ridge tiles. The building follows an L-shaped plan, with the main arm rising to two storeys and a single-storey eastern section that turns to form the short arm of the L.

The double-storey front elevation features a front door at its east end, equipped with fan light and side lights, surmounted by a twelve-light sash window. Ten further sash windows with gauged red brick flat arch heads occupy this elevation—four above and six below—separated by a double terracotta nailhead course. A small square window sits between the western window and the four upper storey windows. The front door provides a direct passage through to the back door.

The rear elevation displays considerable fenestration. At the west end are four large sixteen-light windows (two above and two below) that lit the demonstration rooms. The upper storey contains a further four twelve-light sash windows and two small eight-light windows, while the lower storey has two widely spaced twelve-light windows and a small four-light window to the east of the back door. The west end elevation contains two sixteen-light windows in the upper storey, positioned either side of a chimney.

The single-storey sections feature a regular arrangement of twelve-light windows. The main arm of the L has five such windows and a door that appears to be a later insertion at its east end. The short arm encloses a brick-paved yard on two sides. Opening from the yard into the front elevation are large double wooden doors beneath a wide segmental arch of gauged brick. Immediately south of this door is a sixteen-light window. All roofs are pitched slate with decorative ridge tiles; the main two-storey block has three sets of chimneys, while the rear wing has a single central stack.

The interior of the double-storey section originally contained demonstration rooms, a laboratory, and offices, now all converted to offices. Access enters through a lobby into a hall separated by a wooden semi-partition with floor-to-ceiling side lights. Between the upper side lights is a wooden plaque commemorating the school's foundation through the representations of James Collins, Principal Veterinary Surgeon to the Forces, and Major General Sir Frederick Fitzwygram, Baronet, commanding the Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot, dated 1 June 1880.

The passage beside the stairs to the back door features decorative terrazzo paving incorporating a foliate design around a medallion encircling the letters AVS. A corridor branches left from the entrance hall, lined on either side with offices and terminating in a large well-lit room, a pattern repeated on the upper storey. The staircase rises in two sections with plain capped newel posts, plain hand rail, and turned banisters.

The single-storey section of the main arm of the L now serves as a library. Accessed from the yard via the double doors is the horse theatre and demonstration room—a large open space with high ceiling and tiled floor. The north wall contains blocked windows, above which are two projecting metal bars with small metal hooks on either side.

Historical Context

In 1852, 8,000 acres of low-cost heathland at Aldershot were purchased to establish the first permanent training ground for the British Army, capable of hosting regular summer exercises for 10 to 12 battalions simultaneously. From 1854, permanent barracks replaced initial wooden huts. By 1880, a programme commenced to replace huts at Aldershot and the other main camps at Shorncliffe and Colchester, within which phase the establishment of the Army Veterinary School and Fitzwygram House occurred.

The Army Veterinary Service was founded in 1796 in response to public outcry over the number of horses lost due to poor farriery and ignorance. Initially, graduates were recruited from the London Veterinary College, founded in 1791, and fell under the authority of their regimental colonels. Only in 1880 were veterinary officers brought under the direction of the newly formed Army Veterinary Department. The Army Veterinary School in Aldershot was founded that same year. Major General Fitzwygram, after whom the house was named, was a published authority on farriery and horse care.

Fitzwygram House was purpose-built with laboratories, library, teaching and demonstration rooms. Its development paralleled contemporary transformation of the Royal Veterinary College during the 1890s, which evolved from an infirmary into a research and teaching establishment with lecture and dissecting rooms. However, little of the Royal Veterinary College's original fabric on Royal College Street, Camden, survives, having been largely rebuilt in the mid-1930s.

The Army Veterinary School's associated buildings fall into two phases of construction. Four ancillary buildings providing stabling and storage predate Fitzwygram House; the earliest, identified as Infirmary Stables on the 1874 Ordnance Survey map, were positioned within a trapezoidal enclosure on a different alignment. Fitzwygram House was completed by December 1899. Both Fitzwygram House and the calf and cattle stalls on the same alignment appear on the 1911 Ordnance Survey map.

In 1903, the Army Veterinary Corps was formed to unite nearly all veterinary officers under one badge and provide a trained soldier support base. In 1918, King George V conferred the title "Royal" on the Corps in recognition of its contribution during the First World War. The buildings at Aldershot remain in use by the Royal Army Veterinary Corps today.