He immediately went about turning it into his idea of an Oriental Institute, decorating the interior with objects he had collected on his travels.
Leitner began publishing six academic journals at the Institute, in Sanskrit, Arabic, English and Urdu.
[6] Following his death, his son, Henry, took over the running of the institute,[7] but it closed around a decade later and the vast collection was sold on.
Had it succeeded, the project might have had a profound effect upon the town, it is realistic to suppose that by 1914 there would have been an Oriental University at Woking, making the town a cultural centre of importance, and giving it an identity and status that it has tended to lack.
[8] The Institute is mentioned on a number of occasions, as the 'Oriental College' in the early chapters of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.