The Senior Officers' School, Belgaum was a British military establishment established in 1920 for the training of senior officers of all services based 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 ...

in inter-service cooperation.

History

The School was originally intended for senior officers of the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

who aspired to battalion command and to ensure that all such candidates received suitable training. The School attempted to widen officers' outlook by including in its syllabus subjects that were not immediately military but led to an appreciation of the wider political, geographical and technological environment in which the Army would operate. The first commandant was Brigadier-General Henry Edward ap Rhys Pryce, who was appointed in December 1920, and the last commandant was Brigadier

William Slim William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, who was appointed in June 1939, shortly before the school closed in September, due to the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in Europe. There was also a parallel establishment, the Senior Officers' School, Sheerness, at Sheerness in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Commandants

The following officers commanded the school during its existence: * Brigadier-General Henry E. ap R. Pryce: December 1920 – August 1924 * Brigadier-General H.B. Douglas Baird: August 1924 – June 1928 * Brigadier Clifton I. Stockwell: June 1928 – July 1930 * Brigadier S. John P. Scobell: August 1930 – April 1932 * Brigadier Martin Kemp-Welch: April 1932 – July 1935 * Brigadier Alfred H. Evans-Gwynne: July 1935 – January 1937 * Brigadier Daril G. Watson: January 1937 – June 1939 * Brigadier William J. Slim: June–September 1939

References

{{reflist Training establishments of the British Army Military of British India Military education and training in India Commandants of the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum