At the time of the second world war, the East Court Estate was owned by Alfred Wagg, a London based Merchant Banker.

In 1944 he approached the local Council with an offer to make a gift of the Estate to provide offices for the Council and as a war and as a war memorial

In 1949, after much planning and negotiation, the forerunner of the East Grinstead Memorial Estate Ltd was established as a charity to oversee the running of the Estate

The Estate is now operated under a 125 year lease granted to Mid Sussex District Council in 2015.

For a longer history of the Estate, follow this link.