Historic Melton: Warwick Lodge
Today, Warwick Lodge provides a 50-bedded neurorehabilitation service, providing care and treatment for people diagnosed with brain injuries and strokes.
The lodge was built in 1902 by 2nd Lord Hamilton of Dalzell and was known as Hamilton Lodge. He was Lord in Waiting to King Edward VII from 1905–1910 and King George V in 1910-11.
In 1908, it was purchased by Mr. Alexander Smith Cochran, a philanthropist from New York. In 1911, Cochran sold the property to Frances, Countess of Warwick from Warwick Castle, who changed the name to Warwick Lodge.
The Countess was an intimate friend of Edward VII who found her irresistible and kept up correspondence with her until she joined the Socialist movement and converted to Marxism when she was advised to discontinue her correspondence.
Sir John Leigh purchased Warwick Lodge from the Countess in 1928. He was exceedingly wealthy and gave £30,000.00 to the King’s Fund for disabled servicemen. It is said that when his daughter attained her majority, turned 21, he presented Warwick Lodge to her along with a stable of magnificent hunters.
For several years, the property was rented by Mr. Fredreick Ambrose Clarke, an American equestrian who dedicated his life to breeding and training horses for racing, polo, show jumping, and fox hunting.
The next owner was Captain ‘Teddy’ Brook, who purchased the Lodge in 1937. He married the Hon. Molley Gretton, daughter of Lord Gretton of Stapleford Park. For the 1937 season it was let to their Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester who resided at the lodge and kept their horses at the stables on the corner of Hamilton Drive.
During WW2, thanks to Roxena Van Renssellaer who lived across the road at Mowbray Lodge, Warwick Lodge became a residential nursery home for homeless and orphaned children as a result of the blitz. She was the wife of William Van Renssellaer, the Third Secretary of the US Embassy at Rome. Around 40 children aged between 1 and 5 were cared for by a team of nurses and teachers headed by a matron.
In 1955, the lodge became the home of the Melton and Belvoir Rural District Council. In 1974 it merged with Melton Urban Council to form the Melton Borough Council and they continued to use the Lodge until 1987 when they moved onto a new purpose-built property on Nottingham Road.