Henley Grammar School was founded and endowed by King James I by letters patent in 1604 and primarily taught the sons of the local gentry. The school occupied the same building, the Chantry House, as Dame Elizabeth Perriam’s School, (please see S128/2 for records of this school) located on the top floor. The school was less well-endowed than Dame Elizabeth Perriam’s School, so as a result of financial troubles in 1778 the two schools were united by Act of Parliament as the United Charity Schools of Henley-on-Thames (please see S128/3 for records of this school). The school became known as the Upper School though to begin with they remained distinct schools. In 1792 the schools moved to premises on the south side of Hart Street before moving to the former Bell Inn at Northfield End in 1841. In 1892 the two schools recombined on the Northfield End site and was renamed Henley Grammar School (please see S128/4 for records of this school). In 1928 the running of the school was taken over by the County Council and the school moved to the Rotherfield Court site.
The majority of the records were deposited as Acc 3160 in December 1990 and Acc 3449 in March 1992. Catalogued by Heleen van Rossum June 1993, recatalogued by Alison Smith in April 2009.