iron workshop / forge and accommodation for operational research. During World War I, student numbers shrank as students enlisted. A 28 bed reception hospital operated from 1915-1916 and subsequently a Red Cross supply depot was organised by Mrs Barnard of Withersdane Hall and principal Dunstan's daughter Hester. The War Office presented the college with a German field gun in gratitude. Malcolm Dunstan left Wye in 1922 to lead the Royal Agricultural College. He was replaced by Robert Wilson, formerly principal of the East Anglian Institute of Agriculture. Lord Northbourne joined the college's board of governors in 1925. He was also on the board of future merger partner Swanley Horticultural College and remained a governor of Wye College until 1965. Ahead of war in 1939, Betteshanger Summer School visited the college farm. Lord Northbourne, originator of the term organic farming, hosted a biodynamic agriculture study week and was governor of the college. During World War II the college initially remained open, alongside providing training to the Women's Land Army, but closed in autumn 1940, its accommodation requisitioned for 180 Land Army recruits. Remaining students and faculty transferred to the University of Reading but principal Robert Wilson died in September 1940. Military Southern Command used some of the buildings. General Montgomery, Corps Commander for the South East, was a frequent visitor, briefing troops in the Old Lecture Theatre and Latin School. The college dining hall (Wheelroom) provided a space for servicemen's Catholic Mass, the first time it had been celebrated in the village of Wye since the Reformation. With the end of hostilities Withersdane Hall was purchased for £10,000 from Florence Barnard to house students of Swanley Horticultural College. Initially they lived in the house, and temporary buildings erected on its grounds. Botanist Norah Lillian Penston joined the South Eastern Agricultural College, ahead of its merger with Swanley College, as first female vice-principal. She went on to lead Wye's Department of Biological Science until 1951. Former World War II RAF Wing Commander Dunstan Skilbeck was appointed principal at the end of the war. A "forceful character", he remained in post for 23 years modelling Wye on an Oxford college, establishing and reinforcing traditions such as formal dining and the wearing of academic gowns. He took particular interest in forming the college's archeological society and beagle pack. Skilbeck was joined by Louis Wain, returning to Wye as head of the two person chemistry