British Military Army Individual Schools


Figure 1.--.

We have some information on individual military schools, much of it derived from the work of Cockerill. There are two types of military schools: 1) schools for children and 2) service academies to train officers. The British military schools for children are facilities funded and operated by the army with the ethos, organization, discipline, and character of a military unit. The children, both boys and girls, wear military uniforms. They were founded as schools to care for the children of enlisted British soldiers. Britian also has establishments which in America would be called service academies. These are schools specifically created to produce military officers. The only army school currently operating is Sandhurst.

Military Schools

The British military schools are schools run with a military ethos and where the boys wear military uniforms. They were founded as schools to care for the children of enlisted British soldiers. They were not, however, schools aimed at officer training . In fact as British officers were drawn from the privlidged classes, few of the children coming from British military schools became officers. The fact that the boys wear military uniforms gives a misleading impression. They differed significantly from American military boarding schools which were primarily for affluent families, buch like British preparatory and public (private) schools.

Duke of York's Royal Military School (1801- )

The Duke of York's School was initially located in Chelsea, a neighborhood of London. It was founded in 1801 as the Royal Military Asylum (RMA). The Asylum began operating August 1803. It was founded along the same lines as the Royal Hibernian Military School (RHMS) in Dublin. The RHMS was founded by a charitable group, but the British Army eventually assumed responsibility for the school. Like the RHMS. the Asylum was opened to assist the orphaned and often destitute children of soldiers who were being killed in the Naooleonic Wars. The first children taken in by the Asylum came from the private IOW organization that was operating on the Isle of Wight. (The site is now used for Parkhurst Prison.) It was operated by General George Hewett on a rented farm house (Noke or Noake Farm). General Hewett, a seargent, and nurse Bold brought 27 children to the Asylum. The Duke of York's School still operates.

Queen Victoria School (about 1900- )

The British Army in in 1900 established a third military school, principally for the sons of Scottish Soldiers. This was the Queen Victoria School, Dunblane, Scotland. A similar regimen to the RMA was established for use by the QV School and, whereas the Asylum boys (girls were excluded in the 1840s and did not re-enter the system until 1994) wore the same red uniform of the scarlet-coated British Infantry soldier, boys of the QVS wore Scottish dress, short red coats, trews or kilts and glengarries. It continues to operate today.

Royal Hibernian Military School (1769-1924)

A school opperating in the late 18h and early 19th century was the Royal Hibernian Military School (1769-1824). The Royal Hibernian Military School was located at Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland. Ireland at the time was still part of the United Kingdom. The school was founded as the Hibernian Asylum by the Hibernian Society which was a charity organization founded in Dublin in 1769 after the Seven Years War, one of the major struggles of the 18th century. (The American phase was the French and Indian Wars.) The War had created a substantial number of orphan children. This was more so in the European countries that fought large-scale pitched land battles than Britain, but still there were many orphans in Britain. With the loss of their husbands many wives could no longer support themselves, let along their children. The Hiberian Society petitioned King George III for a charter, which was granted. The Society wanted to assist the the orphaned children of soldiers killed during the War. The Society subsequently expanded its work by also offering to assist destitute families, both boys and girls, of soldiers posted from Ireland to overseas service in Britain's expanding Empire. The British Army at the time gave no support to military families. The officers came from aristocratic or affluent families and thus needed little support for their families. This was not the case of enlisted men. This was a new problem for Britain. Until the Seven Years War, Britain had only a small army and there were very limited overseas postings. The two major British garrisons in Ireland were located in Dublin and Cork. Both of these cities were affected by overseas deployments, first in the Revolutionary War and later in the Napoleonic Wars. A 1785 census reported that only in Dublin there were 1,400 children who were either orphans or whose fathers were on active service abroad were begging on the streets. British military authorities during the Napoleonic Wars assumed responsibility from the Hibernian Society for running the school. The children were both Catholic and Church of England. There were more Church of England children at the school than was the case for the Irish population in general. The scholl was renamed the Royal Hibernian Military (RHMS) School. The School cared for both boys and girls through the 1840s. Cockerill tells us, "Girls were at the school until the 1840s when those remaining were shipped to Australia on the SS Pemberton." [Cockerill, Juky 3, 2004.] The girls in 1849 were placed as both house maids and servants. Cockerill's website provides a list ot the girls and fascinating details about their transport to Australia. [Cockerill, RHMC.] The British Army ran the school until after World War I and fighting for independence expanded in Ireland. The Brirish in 1922 moved the remaining boys and staff to Shorncliffe and the Phoenix Park premises were taken over by the newly-formed government of the Republic of Ireland. The RHMC's historical records were moved to London, but later destroyed during the NAZI Blitz of London (1940). The boys still in the school were transferred to the Duke of York’s Royal Military School (1924). [Cockerill, RHMS.] We do not have detailed information on the RHMS uniform, but Cockerill tells us, "The uniforms of the Royal Hibs and Duke of York's were essentially the same." [Cockerill, July 3, 2004.]

Officer Training Schools

European countries in the 18th century began to found formal national military accademies to train a professional officer corps. Britain with its mistrust of a standing army lagged behind other European countries. The candidates were largely drawn from the nobility, often the younger sons of aristocratic families. The military schools listed above should not be confused with schools like the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Sandurst is an officer training school comparable to the American military academy in West Point.

Royal Military Academy at Woolwich (1741- )

The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich was established in 1741. We do not yet have much information on the school, but believe it focuses heavily on the artillery. Lord Cornwallis of Revolutionary War fame attended a military school in London. I do not know if the school in question was Woolwich or not. He was commissioned an ensign in the 1st Foot Guards in 1756. Patrick Ferguson attended a military school in London. Commissioned as a cornet on July 12, 1759.

Sandhurst (1802- )

The Royal Military College at Sandhurst was established in 1802. Sandhurst today is the British military academy, comparable to West Point in America. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort, took an interest in Sandhurst as part of his desire to modernize the British military. The cadets clashed with school authorities over the harsh discipline enforced at the school. Albert suggested to authorities that as there was a scale for punishments that there should be a corresponding scale of rewards. He though this would help the cadets see the connection between their conduct and prospects. [Bennett, pp. 362-363.]

Sources

Bennett, Daphne. King Without a Crown: Albert Prince Consort of England, 1819-1861 (New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1977).

Cockerill, A.W. Information*Research*Publications.

Cockerill, A.W. Royal Hiberian Military School.

Cockerill, A. W. In correspondence, July 3-4, 2004.





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Created: 10:26 PM 7/3/2004
Last updated: 4:55 PM 11/17/2004