The Royal Naval School was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

that was established in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in 1833 and then formally constituted by the Royal Naval College Act 1840. It was a

charitable The practice of charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act, unmotivated by self-interest. There are a number of philosophies about charity, often associated with religion. Etymology The word ''charity'' ori ...

institution, established as a boarding school for the sons of officers in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

. Many of its pupils achieved prominence in military and diplomatic service. The school closed in 1910.

History

A purpose-built school building was designed by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

John Shaw Jr John Shaw Jr. (1803–1870) was an English architect of the 19th century who was complimented as a designer in the "Manner of Wren". He designed buildings in the classical Jacobean fashion and designed some of London's first semi-detache ...

, and opened in about 1844 at New Cross in south-east London (close to Deptford and Greenwich, London, Greenwich, both areas with strong naval connections). However, the school soon outgrew this building and relocated to Mottingham in 1889. (The building remained in educational use, being sold to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths for £25,000, and being re-opened by the Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Prince of Wales in July 1891 as the "Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute" – more commonly known simply as the "Goldsmiths' Institute". In 1904, it became the main building of Goldsmiths, University of London, Goldsmiths College.) The Royal Naval School remained at Mottingham (in a building today occupied by Eltham College) until it closed in 1910. Author Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler was wife to one of the teachers at the Royal Naval School before it closed.

Royal Naval School for girls

At the same time as the boys' school was founded, in 1840, ''The Royal Female School for the Daughters of Naval and Marine Officers'' was founded 'in a candle-lit, rented house on Richmond Green' which later changed its name to ''The Royal Naval School'' or ''RNS'' - as it is still known today by its old girls. ''RNS'' was due to the inspiration of Thomas Williams (Royal Navy officer), Admiral Sir Thomas Williams, a

officer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, who had served with distinction in numerous theatres during the American Revolutionary War, French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. As stated on the dust jacket of the history of the school published in 1975, Williams

... realised that after the Napoleonic Wars there were hundreds of impecunious ex-Naval officers acutely in need of an economical means to educate their daughters to earn a living; entirely by the efforts of an influential group of distinguished Officers the necessary funds ware raised, the School established and Royal Patronage obtained... from Richmond, it moved on to the fine Kilmorey mansion beside the Thames, at St. Margaret's, where it grew and flourished until the building was destroyed by bombs in 1940. Difficult wartime moves first to Fernhurst and later to Stoatley Hall were a triumph for the headmistress, Miss Oakley-Hill, and paved the way for further expansion. P. Unwin, ''The Royal Naval School, 1840-1975'' (Haslemere: The School, 1976)

In 1995, The Royal Naval School for girls at Haslemere was amalgamated with ''Grove School (disambiguation), The Grove School'' founded in 1864 to form ''The Royal School, Haslemere''.

Notable former pupils

*Major General William Bridges (general), Sir William Bridges (1861–1915) *Robert Bruce Burnside (1862–1929) was an Australian barrister and judge *General Richard John Meade (1821–1894) *Charles Mitchell (colonial administrator), Sir Charles Mitchell (1836–1899), governor of Fiji and the Straits Settlements *Admiral George Nares, Sir George Nares (1831–1915)

officer and Arctic List of explorers, explorer *Admiral Stuart Nicholson (1865–1936) *Admiral Bedford Pim (1826–1886) *James Charles Harris, Sir James Harris (1831–1904), artist, British Consul in Nice and Monaco *Kivas Tully (1820–1905), architect *William Hoste Webb (1820–1890), politician in Quebec

Other schools with the same name

There are other schools by this name including Royal Naval School Tal-Handaq in Malta and the Royal Naval School in Colombo, Sri Lanka, then named Ceylon, which became the Overseas School of Colombo in 1957.Fifty years of international education
/ref>

References

{{Coord, 51.4380, 0.0386, type:edu_region:GB-BRY, display=title Boarding schools in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Lewisham Goldsmiths, University of London Educational institutions established in 1833 1910 disestablishments in England Defunct schools in the London Borough of Southwark 1833 establishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 1910 Camberwell