It was opened in 1843 as an Infant Orphan Asylum by King Leopold I of Belgium, and later became the Royal Wanstead School.
The mansion was acquired by Sir Thomas Devitt and Sir Alfred Yarrow after the First World War, and the Royal Merchant Navy School moved there from Snaresbrook in March 1921.
Sir Stephen Gomersall, KCMG was educated at Forest School, Snaresbrook and Queens' College, Cambridge.