The East India Company Military Seminary was a British
military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...
at
Addiscombe
Addiscombe is an area of south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located south of Charing Cross, and is situated north of Coombe and Selsdon, east of Croydon town centre, south of Woodside, and west of Shirley.
E ...
, Surrey, in what is now the
London Borough of Croydon
The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough in south London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of . It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name; ...
. It opened in 1809 and closed in 1861. Its purpose was to train young officers to serve in the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
's
own army in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
The institution was formally known as the East India Company Military Seminary (a name the cadets always disliked) until 1855, when the name was changed to the East India Company Military College.
[Bourne 1979, p. 206.] In 1858, when the college was taken over by the government, it was renamed the Royal India Military College. Colloquially, it was known as Addiscombe Seminary, Addiscombe College, or Addiscombe Military Academy.
The Seminary was a sister institution to the
East India Company College
The East India Company College, or East India College, was an educational establishment situated at Hailey, Hertfordshire, nineteen miles north of London, founded in 1806 to train "writers" (administrators) for the Honourable East India Company ( ...
in Hertfordshire, which trained civilian "writers" (clerks). In military terms it was a counterpart to the
Royal Military Academy at
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...
and the
Royal Military College at
Sandhurst.
History
Addiscombe Place
Addiscombe Place, the mansion house which formed the central building of the later Seminary, was erected in about 1702 by William Draper, on land which he had inherited in 1700 from his aunt, Dame Sarah Temple. Draper's father-in-law was the diarist
John Evelyn
John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's diary, or ...
, who in 1703 pronounced the house "in all points of good and solid architecture to be one of the very best gentleman's houses in Surrey, when finish'd". Its interior included many mural paintings of mythological subjects, supposed to be the work of Sir
James Thornhill
Sir James Thornhill (25 July 1675 or 1676 – 4 May 1734) was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition. He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the "Painted Hall" at the Ro ...
; while high up on the exterior east front was carved the Latin inscription, ''Non faciam vitio culpave minorem'' ("I will not lower myself by vice or fault"). By the late 18th century the house was in the ownership of Charles James Clarke, who leased it to the statesman
Charles Jenkinson, Lord Hawkesbury, later 1st Earl of Liverpool. Regular visitors during Liverpool's tenure included King
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
and
William Pitt.
The military seminary
Following the death of Lord Liverpool in December 1808, Addiscombe Place was put on the market by Emelius Delmé-Radcliffe (Clarke's brother-in-law). It was bought by the Court of Directors of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
for use as a military academy. Although the company was primarily a trading concern, it also maintained its
own army, the officers of which had previously been trained at the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, at the
Royal Military College Junior Department at
Great Marlow
Great Marlow is a civil parish within Wycombe district in the English county of Buckinghamshire, lying north of the town of Marlow and south of High Wycombe. The parish includes the hamlets of Bovingdon Green, Burroughs Grove, Chisbridge Cro ...
, or privately. They were now to be trained at Addiscombe. The Seminary opened on 21 January 1809, although the formal transfer of title of the property did not take place until a year later, on 26 January 1810.
The initial purchase comprised the mansion house and 58 acres of land to the south of Lower Addiscombe Road, but a further 30 acres to the north were subsequently acquired. New buildings were added, so that the mansion house, which originally housed the entire establishment, became a purely administrative block. The additions included barracks, a chapel, a drawing and lecture hall, a hospital, a dining-hall, a sand-modelling hall, a gymnasium, and service facilities including a bakehouse, dairy, laundry, and brew-house.
Cadets and the curriculum
In the early days cadets entered the Seminary between the ages of 13 and 16, and later between 15 and 18. They normally remained for 2 years (4 terms), although it was possible to pass the final examination within a shorter period. The initial intake comprised 60 cadets, but numbers rose to about 75 a year, meaning that there were around 150 cadets in residence at any one time.
Cadets or their families were required to pay fees (£30 a year when the Seminary first opened; £50 a term by 1835), but these were heavily subsidised and represented only a proportion of the true costs of their education.
Initially, the main purpose of the Seminary was to train cadets for the Engineer or Artillery arms of the service, but as an experiment in 1816–17, and more permanently from 1827, "general service" cadets destined for the Infantry were admitted.
In all, some 3,600 cadets passed through Addiscombe during the years of its existence. Of these, over 500 entered the Engineers, nearly 1,100 the Artillery, and about 2,000 the Infantry, some of whom subsequently transferred to the Cavalry.
The curriculum comprised instruction in the "sciences of Mathematics, Fortification, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry; the
Hindustani, Latin, and French languages; in the art of Civil, Military, and Lithographic Drawing and Surveying; and in the construction of the several gun-carriages and mortar-beds used in the Artillery service, from the most approved models". The Company paid well, and attracted some distinguished academic staff:
John Shakespear published a standard Hindustani grammar, and
Jonathan Cape was a Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
. In practice, the emphasis was on mathematics, and the Seminary was criticised for not including more training in practical "
military science". In the 1850s photography was also studied. J. M. Bourne concludes that the Seminary was "not a true military college at all, but a militarised
public school"although he also judges that, by the standards of the age, its record as a military training school was not significantly worse than those of the establishments at
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...
and
Sandhurst.
Cadets were required to wear uniforms at all times, and were not permitted to go beyond the grounds or into Croydon without permission. However, they gained a reputation for indiscipline, and fights with the townspeople of Croydon were not infrequent. There was no corporal punishment, but in the early years cadets could be punished by being incarcerated in the so-called "Black Hole", and fed on bread and water. Until 1829 they worshipped regularly at
Croydon Parish Church
Croydon Minster is the parish and civic church of the London Borough of Croydon. There are currently more than 35 churches in the borough, with Croydon Minster being the most prominent. It is Grade I listed.
Six Archbishops of Canterbury are bur ...
(marching there each Sunday in uniform, accompanied by their band): after that date they began to worship at the newly consecrated St James's Church, Addiscombe.
Public Examinations and Pollock Medal
Examinations were held twice-yearly in June and December: they lasted about three weeks, and culminated in a Public Examination, a day-long affair of some ceremony before a distinguished invited audience, which included orchestrated demonstrations of book-learning and of military exercises such as
swordsmanship
Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to a ...
and
pontoon-building; an exhibition of drawings and models; a formal inspection; and the distribution of prizes. The day's events are described in one account as "a performance carefully prepared and rehearsed beforehand. Its object was to make a favourable impression on a carefully selected audience". The Public Examiner, who presided, was an eminent general (see list below); while the audience usually included some of the Directors of the East India Company, and often the
Archbishop of Canterbury, who had a residence nearby at
Addington Palace
Addington Palace is an 18th-century mansion in Addington located within the London Borough of Croydon. It was built on the site of a 16th-century manor house. It is particularly known for having been, between 1807 and 1897, the summer resid ...
.
In 1848 the Seminary began awarding the
Pollock Medal to the best cadet of the training season. The award was named after
Field Marshal Sir
George Pollock
Field Marshal Sir George Pollock, 1st Baronet (4 June 1786 – 6 October 1872) was a British Indian Army officer. He first saw action at the Battle of Deeg and at the Siege of Bhurtpore during the Second Anglo-Maratha War before taking part i ...
. The Pollock Prize was transferred to the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich after Addiscombe was closed.
Closure and development of the site
Following the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
, the East India Company was wound up in 1858. The college passed into government hands, becoming known as the Royal Indian Military College, Addiscombe, but continued to perform much the same function. With the amalgamation of the Royal and Indian services in 1861, there was initially a proposal that Addiscombe should be retained as a military college. However, the
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
decided that the establishments at
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...
and
Sandhurst were sufficient for their needs, and the college closed in June the same year.
![Ashleigh Addiscombe Road](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Ashleigh_Addiscombe_Road.JPG)
The site was sold on 30 August 1861 for £33,600 to the
British Land Company, who demolished most of the buildings. All that remain are two former professors' houses, "Ashleigh" and "India", on the corner of Clyde Road and Addiscombe Road; and the former gymnasium on Havelock Road, now private apartments. The Land Company laid out five parallel roads over the greater part of the grounds, and built them up with villas. The five roadsOutram, Havelock, Elgin, Clyde and Canning Roadsall took their names from soldiers and politicians prominent on the British side in the events of 1857–58, although none was in fact a college alumnus.
Headship
*1809–22:
James Andrew, styled Superintendent and Head Master
*1822–24:
Henry Carmichael-Smyth, styled Resident Superintendent (this appointment was regarded as temporary)
*1824–34:
Sir Robert Houston, styled Lieutenant-Governor
*1834–50:
Sir Ephraim Stannus, styled Lieutenant-Governor
*1851–60:
Sir Frederick Abbott, styled Lieutenant-Governor
Notable cadets
Notable cadets include:
1810s
*
Augustus Abbott
Major-General Augustus Abbott (7 January 1804 – 25 February 1867) was an army officer in the British East India Company. He was the eldest of several prominent brothers. He served in various military campaigns including the First Anglo-Afghan Wa ...
*
Sir Proby Cautley
*
John Colvin
*
Sir Arthur Cotton
General Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton (15 May 1803 – 24 July 1899) was a British general and irrigation engineer.
Cotton devoted his life to the construction of irrigation and navigation canals throughout British India. He helped many people by b ...
*
Sir Frederick Lester
*
Sir George Lawrence
*
James Oliphant
*
Charles Waddington
*
Sir Archdale Wilson, Bt
1820s
*
Sir Frederick Abbott
*
Herbert Edward Stacy Abbott
*
Sir James Abbott
*
Saunders Alexius Abbott
Major-General Saunders Alexius Abbott (9 July 1811 – 7 February 1894) was an English military officer in the Bengal Army and administrator serving in British India.
Family background
Saunders was the fourth son of Henry Alexius Abbott, a reti ...
*
Sir William Erskine Baker
*
John Archibald Ballard
*
Arthur Conolly
Arthur Conolly (2 July 1807, London – 17 June 1842, Bukhara) was a British intelligence officer, explorer and writer. He was a captain of the 6th Bengal Light Cavalry in the service of the British East India Company. He participated in many r ...
*
Sir Alexander Cunningham
Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newl ...
*
Sir Henry Marion Durand
*
Vincent Eyre
Major-General Sir Vincent Eyre (22 January 1811 – 22 September 1881) was an officer in the Indian Army, who saw active service in India and Afghanistan.
Early life
Born in Portsdown, Portsmouth on 22 January 1811, Eyre was the third son of Cap ...
*
Hugh Fraser
*
William Cornwallis Harris
Major Sir William Cornwallis Harris (baptised 2 April 1807 – died 9 October 1848) was an English military engineer, artist and hunter.
Life and career Early life
The son of James Harris of Wittersham, Kent, he entered Addiscombe Milita ...
*
John Jacob
*
Sir Atwell Lake
*
Sir Henry Lawrence
Brigadier-General Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence KCB (28 June 18064 July 1857) was a British military officer, surveyor, administrator and statesman in British India. He is best known for leading a group of administrators in the Punjab affectiona ...
*
Sir Robert Montgomery
Sir Robert Montgomery GCSI, KCB (2 December 1809 – 28 December 1887), was a British administrator and civil servant in colonial India. He was Chief Commissioner of Oudh during the period of 1858 to 1859 and later served as Lieutenant Govern ...
*
Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala
Field Marshal Robert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala (6 December 1810 – 14 January 1890) was a British Indian Army officer. He fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War and the Second Anglo-Sikh War before seeing action as chief en ...
*
Sir Thomas Townsend Pears
*
Eldred Pottinger
Eldred Pottinger (12 August 181115 November 1843) was an Anglo-Indian army officer and diplomat. In 1837 he happened to be in Herat in Afghanistan to gather intelligence on the area when the Persian army, supported by Russians, laid siege to the ...
*
Bradshaw Reilly
*
Sir Richmond Shakespear
*
Sir Andrew Scott Waugh
1830s
*
Sir Orfeur Cavenagh
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
*
Douglas Hamilton
*
Sir Arnold Burrowes Kemball
*
Sir George Malcolm
*
Sir William Olpherts VC
*
Sir Frederick Pollock
*
Joseph Medlicott Scriven
*
Richard Baird Smith
Richard Baird Smith (31 December 1818 – 13 December 1861) was a British engineer officer in the East India Company, who played a prominent part as Chief Engineer in the Siege of Delhi of 1857.
Early life
Baird Smith was born on 31 December 18 ...
*
Sir Richard Strachey
*
Henry Ravenshaw Thuillier
*
Sir Henry Tombs VC
*
James Travers VC
*
Sir Henry Yule
Sir Henry Yule (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and ''Mirabilia'' by the 14th-century Dominican Friar Jordanus. ...
1840s
*
Sir George Tomkyns Chesney
*
Sir Peter Lumsden
*
Donald Macintyre VC
*
James John McLeod Innes
Lieutenant General James John McLeod Innes (5 February 1830 – 13 December 1907) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British ...
VC
*
James Rose, 23rd of Kilravock
*
Sir John Carstairs McNeill VC
*
Thomas George Montgomerie
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas George Montgomerie FRS (1830–1878) was a British surveyor who participated in the Great Trigonometric Survey of India as a lieutenant in the 1850s. He was the person to label K2, the second highest mountain in the w ...
*
Sir Francis Norman
*
Sir Lambert Playfair
*
George Alexander Renny VC
*
Sir Richard Sankey
*
James Francis Tennant
*
George Dobson Willoughby
1850s
*
Sir Charles Bernard
*
Sir James Browne
*
Thomas Tupper Carter-Campbell of Possil
Colonel Thomas Tupper Carter-Campbell of Possil (15 September 1838 – 14 January 1900) was a British soldier.
Biography
Thomas Tupper Carter was born on 15 September 1838, the third son of Admiral John Carter RN of Castlemartin and his wife, J ...
*
John Underwood Champain
*
Sir Henry Collett
*
James Dundas VC
*
William Wilberforce Harris Greathed
*
Frederick Edward Hadow
*
Sir James Hills-Johnes VC
*
Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob
*
William Merriman
Colonel William Merriman (2 April 1838 – 11 March 1917) was a British officer in the Royal Engineers who played as a goalkeeper in three FA Cup Finals, winning the cup in 1875.
Family and education
Merriman was born at 13 Young Street, Kensi ...
*
Sir Charles Nairne
*
John Pennycuick
*
Sir Harry Prendergast VC
*
Lord Roberts of Kabul and Kandahar VC
*
Sir Oliver St John
*
Sir Edward Talbot Thackeray VC
*
Sir Henry Trotter
*
Francis Ward
1860s
*
Sir Bindon Blood
*
Sir Arthur George Hammond VC
*
Sir Albert Hime
*
Sir John Frederick Maurice
*
Thomas Price
*
Sir Edward Stedman
*
Sir Robert Warburton
Notable staff
![Group of Professors at Addiscombe Military Seminary](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Group_of_Professors_at_Addiscombe_Military_Seminary.jpg)
Staff at Addiscombe included:
* Sir
Frederick Abbott, Lieutenant-Governor 1851–61
* Dr
James Andrew, Superintendent 1809–22
*
David T. Ansted
David Thomas Ansted Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 181413 May 1880) was an English professor of geology and author of numerous books on geology. His role as a teacher at Addiscombe Military Seminary, where future East India Company ...
, Lecturer in Geology 1845–61
*
John Callow, Lecturer in Civil Drawing 1855–61
* Revd
Jonathan Cape, Senior Professor of Mathematics 1822–61
*
John Frederic Daniell
John Frederic Daniell FRS (12 March 1790 – 13 March 1845) was an English chemist and physicist.
Biography
Daniell was born in London. In 1831 he became the first professor of chemistry at the newly founded King's College London; and in 18 ...
, Professor of Chemistry 1835–45
*
Theodore Henry Adolphus Fielding, Lecturer in Civil Drawing 1826–50
*
Edward Frankland
Sir Edward Frankland, (18 January 18259 August 1899) was an English chemist. He was one of the originators of organometallic chemistry and introduced the concept of combining power or valence. An expert in water quality and analysis, he was ...
, Professor of Chemistry 1859–61
*
John Christian Schetky, Lecturer in Civil Drawing 1836–55
*
John Shakespear, Professor of Hindustani, 1809–29
*
William Sturgeon
William Sturgeon (22 May 1783 – 4 December 1850) was an English physicist and inventor who made the first electromagnets, and invented the first practical British electric motor.
Early life
Sturgeon was born on 22 May 1783 in Whittington, ...
, Lecturer in Science and Philosophy 1824–50
*
William Frederick Wells
William Frederick Wells (1762 – 10 November 1836) was a British watercolour landscape painter and etcher.
Wells was born in London in 1762. Wells studied art in London under John James Barralet (1747–1815). On 20 November 1804, Wells ...
, Lecturer in Civil Drawing 1813–36
Public Examiners
The Public Examiners were:
[Farrington 1976, p. 119.]
* 1809–20: Maj-Gen.
William Mudge
William Mudge (1762–1820) was an English artillery officer and surveyor, born in Plymouth, an important figure in the work of the Ordnance Survey.
Life
William Mudge was a son of Dr. John Mudge of Plymouth, by his second wife, and grandson o ...
* 1820–23: Maj-Gen.
Sir Howard Douglas
General Sir Howard Douglas, 3rd Baronet, (23 January 1776 – 9 November 1861) was a British Army officer born in Gosport, England, the younger son of Admiral Sir Charles Douglas, and a descendant of the Earls of Morton. He was an English ...
* 1824–40: Maj-Gen.
Sir Alexander Dickson
* 1840–55: Maj-Gen.
Charles Pasley
General Sir Charles William Pasley (8 September 1780 – 19 April 1861) was a British soldier and military engineer who wrote the defining text on the role of the post-American Revolution British Empire: ''An Essay on the Military Policy and Ins ...
* 1856–61: Maj-Gen.
Sir Frederick Smith
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
* (mainly on Addiscombe Place)
*
*
External links
* (based on Vibart 1894)
{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1809
Training establishments of the British Army
19th century in London
History of the London Borough of Croydon
Military history of London
British East India Company
Military academies of the United Kingdom
Properties of the East India Company
1809 establishments in the United Kingdom
1861 disestablishments in England