The Firs is a country house in Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire.
The house was built in 1897 for Charles Gray, an officer who fought with the Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa. [1] By the 1930s the house was owned by Major Arthur Abrahams from whom it was requisitioned by the War Office in 1939. [2] During the Second World War the house was used by MD1 for the development and testing of various weapons [3] including time delay fuses, depth charges and PIAT guns. [4] The house, which was known locally as "Winston Churchill's Toyshop", accommodated some 250 people at this time. [5] Meanwhile Abrahams was knighted for his services to the British Red Cross in June 1942. [6]
In around 1953 the house became the Central Research Laboratories for Richard Thomas and Baldwins, iron and steel producers. [7] This use continued until 1967 when Richard Thomas and Baldwins was nationalised as part of British Steel. [7] The house has since been converted into offices [4] and in 2016 was owned by Christopher Mann, Chairman of Plenham Publishing. [8]