| Original title | Foster House |
| Year painted | 1824 |
| Museum reference number | PR160 |
| Address and postcode | Great Fosters Hotel, Stroude Road, Egham, TW12 9UR |
| Listed building number | Grade 2* 1/7/88 List Entry: 1000303 |
| Construction date of building depicted and major alterations | Oldest part of the house dates from 1550. Renovated in the 1860s. Refurbished and extended c.1918. Continued programme of alterations through the mid and late twentieth century. |
| History of ownership/residents and use | Originally called Imworth, the manor came into the possession of judge, Sir Robert Foster, in 1639 and passed to his son Sir Thomas. The property was known simply as Fosters until the early nineteenth century when a smaller property nearby was named Little Fosters (PR172). From 1767 until the early nineteenth century the house was used as a lunatic asylum by Dr George Frederick Furnivall and Sir John Chapman. Legend has it that Geroge III was treated there, but there is no evidence in the Windsor archives. Dr Furnivall certainly attended Mary Shelley during her confinement in 1815. In 1865 the house returned to use as a private home when it was sold to Colonel Halkett, Baron of Hanover. His wife was Lady in Waiting to Queen Alexandra. After the death of Halkett and his wife in the 1880s, the house fell into disrepair. There was a protracted sale process from 1902-1910. By 1918 the house was occupied by the Honourable Gerald Samuel Montague and the farm became a centre for poultry breeding with the telephone address ‘Eggs Egham’. At this time architect W. H. Romaine was commissioned to adapt the building. In 1929 Great Fosters was purchased by Sir Harold Sutcliffe MP and it opened as a hotel in 1930. |
| Location’s present status | Has been run as a hotel since 1930 |
| Links and references | https://www.alexanderhotels.co.uk/great-fosters/ |
