WHITTON is a village and an ecclesiastical district, formed Sept. 5, 1862, from the parish of Twickenham, 1 mile south from Hounslow station on the London and South Western railway, 3 south-west from Brentford and 10 from Hyde Park corner, in the Brentford division of the county, Isleworth hundred and division, Brentford petty sessional division, union and county court district, and in the rural deanery of Hampton, archdeaconry of Middlesex and diocese of London. The church of SS. Philip and James, erected at a cost of £2,500, and consecrated in 1862, is an edifice of Kentish rag, brick and freestone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, north porch and a small tower on the north-west containing a clock and 1 bell: in the chancel and organ chamber are memorial windows to Mrs. Murray, of Whitton Park, to the daughter of the late Edward H. Donnithorne esq. of Colne Lodge, Twickenham (d. 1885), and to Col. Charles Edward Gosling-Murray, d. 1892: there are sittings for 250 persons. The register dates from the year 1862. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £71, with residence, in the gift of the vicar of Twickenham, and held since 1896 by the Rev. George Croke Robinson M.A. of Christ Church College, Oxford.

Kneller Hall, erected in 1710 by Sir Godfrey Kneller kt. and bart. the famous painter, and called by him Whitton House, is a mansion of brick with stone dressings, three storeys in height, in the Jacobean style, and consists of a central block with wings united by an open arcading: in the centre of the principal front is a projecting bay, rising above the parapet and forming a porch, and on either side of it is a tall square turret of four storeys, with a domical ogee-shaped roof: the whole structure is finished with an open pierced parapet and small finials: the hall and staircase were painted by Louis Laguerre; after the death of Kneller, 19 Oct. 1723, the house was occupied by Sir Samuel Prime, and in 1847 it was purchased by the Committee of Council on Education for the purposes of a training school, with the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Temple, as principal: in 1856 it was acquired by the War Department, and re-established as a school of military music, supported by the Government, for the complete training of musicians and bandmasters for the army.

Whitton Park, about 100 acres in extent, on the borders of Hounslow Heath and near the village of Whitton, was formerly the residence of Sir William Chambers kt. R.A. the distinguished architect; the mansion was built about 1724 as an occasional rural retreat from the metropolis by Archibald, third Duke of Argyll, who died 15th of April, 1761, and occupies a site consisting partly of cornfields and partly of land taken from Hounslow Heath, granted to the Duke by the Crown, and the firs, cedars, and evergreens planted by the Duke have now a very majestic appearance; he also built a greenhouse sufficiently large to be converted by the late George Gostling esq. into a villa, and dividing the pleasure-grounds into two parts, let the principal portion to Sir William Chambers, who, in his improvements of this delightful spot, appears to have had in contemplation the decorations of an Italian villa; temples, statues, ruins and antiques are interspersed throughout: in one part appears an imitation of some ancient Roman baths, and in another a modern temple of AEsculapius, erected in compliment to Francis Willis M.D. the medical attendant of George III. during his lunacy; the house is spacious and commodious and contains many valuable pictures, ancient marbles and original drawings; there is also an excellent library, including some of the most valuable books on ancient and modern architecture; it is now the property of the Whitton Park Club, a sports club, under the direction of Capt. C. A. Thimm F.R.G.S., has golf links, polo and cricket fields, lawn tennis and archery grounds, and a field for inanimate bird shooting &c.: there are about 1,500 members.

The manorial rights are divided. The Duke of Northumberland K.G. is chief landowner. The soil is clay; subsoil, gravel. The crops are wheat, hay and garden produce. The area is 888 acres; the population in 1891 was 937, including 169 in Kneller Hall.

Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, Col. Farquhar Glennie, commandant; Capt. F. H. Mahony, adjutant, quartermaster & acting paymaster; Lieut. A.

Parochial School (mixed & infants), built about 1850, & enlarged in 1896, for 190 children; average attendance, 152, including the children of the students of Kneller Hall.