British military schools, unlike many British public schools such as the prestigious Eton and Harrow schools, are of fairly recent origin. According to A. W. Cockerill, an authority on military schools of the British Army, "Military
schools for students under the age of 18, to distinguish them from officer cadet training academies, have been in existence in the British military only since the mid-18th Century. Military schools are also to be found in the United States, but they are significant differences between British and American military schools. American military schools were privately funded and may or may not have retired military personnel on staff." They also catered to relatively affluent American families. As Cockerill notes, "The British military schools were funded and operated by the Army for the orphans of soldiers killed in battle and the children of impoverished British military families."
While it was more common for English boys to go to boarding school than elsewhere in Europe, very few English schools were military schools. England appears to have the most limited number of military schools of any major European
country. Britain has never had military boarding schools like the United States. Quite a large number of military schools were founded in America and these constituted a significant portion of the American boarding schools. These were
schools primarily for affluent middle-class families. Very few military schools were founded in England. The few that have been founded were designed to care for the children of enlisted British servicemen who faced poverty if their fathers were posted abroad or killed during their military service. We do not yet know of any privately founded fee-paying boarding schools in Britain.
We have in HBC generally separated our discussion of English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh schools. Of course these countries all make up the United Kingdom governed by a single national Parliament. We have in part separated our school
discussion because there are separate school systems in England and Scotland. As regards military schools this makes less sense. Not only are there very few military schools, but there is only one military--the British military.
The creation of a standing British army is intertwined with the development of
democracy in Britain. Until the 17th century there was no standing English Army. Under the
Feudal system nobles owed military service to the king and were required to provide
military forced when needed. As Parliament acquired increasing authority in
England it used its prerogatives over taxation to limit royal power. The conflict
between Parliament and the monarchy came to a head during the Stuart dynasty. The
Stuarts believing in royal absolutism were unwilling to accept Parliamentary
controls on their power. Parliament refused to grant the Stuarts new taxes which
to create an army which could be used to suppress Parliament. As a result when Charles I tried to suppress the Scottish kirk,
he found he did not have an army sufficient to the task or even able to withstand a
Scottish invasion. It was in the ensuing Civil War (1642-51) that the first
standing British Army was created--Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army (1644).
Notably the Model Army won the Civil War and ironically Cromwell like Charles I,
dismissed Parliament and ruled without it. After Cromwell's death and the
restoration of Charles II, the potential dangers of a standing army impeded the
development of a professional standing army in Britain. This began to change in
the 18th century as conflict with France posed increasing dangers on Britain. The
Seven Year's War (1756-63) is
generally seen as a European War. For Britain and France it was a world war.
Americans know it as the French and Indian War as a result of which Britain
acquired Canada. On the other side of the globe Britain gained control of India.
These acquisitions as well as other colonies in the Caribbean and North America
greatly expanded the need for a standing army. Even so the British Army was still
relatively small. When the Revolutionary War
(1776) flared, King George III needed to hire Hessian mercenaries from his German
relatives. The wars arising from the French
Revolution (1789) and later the Napoleonic
Wars (1799-1815) resulted in a greatly expanded British military.
The families of British enlisted servicemen lived in strained circumstances at
best. The expansion of the British military meant that more families were
dependent on servicemen as the head of household and exposed to severe deprivations
when he was posted overseas. Until 1800 there was no way that a serviceman posted
abroad could remit his pay to his family back in England. Cockerill explains the
problem, "When a regiment embarked for service overseas, six families per company
only were allowed to accompany the battalion. Selection of the families permitted
to travel was made by drawn lot. The families left behind were without support of
any kind. They suffered misery and destitution." [Cockerill, RHMA] Cockerill
adds, "When a soldier died, was wounded or left the service for any reason, there
was no welfare service to cater to the family. There was no welfare service among
the civilian population either--except the workhouse system. Read my book.
Families traveling from a military depot to their home parish required a 'pass'
from the commanding officer of the depot to avoid being arrested as vagrants when
passing through other parishes en route. As for housing, not even soldiers had
barracks until the 1790s and, when they did, some but not all families lived in a
corner of the barrack room with the soldiers." [Cockerill, July 4, 2004.]
The first British military school was the Royal Hibernian Military School in
Dublin, Ireland. It ws founded by a charitable group in the mid-18th century to
address the privations experienced by military families when the father was posted
abroad. This occurred after the Seven Years War. The problem became increasingly
serious during the extended conflicts associated with the French Revolution and the
Napoleonic Wars. The Eventually the British Army took over this responsibility and
schools were founded in England (Duke of York's School) and later Scotland (Queen
Victoria School). The Royal Hibernian Military School school was closed when
Ireland obtained its independence. The two British military schools are now
operated like British public (private) schools.
We have some information on specific 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. Britain 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.
The British military schools for children were not schools specifically aimed
at training soldiers. The British Army found the schools, however, to be a useful
source of recruits. The military environment of the school meant that boys
recruited there fit easier into military life. The boys in fact made an important
contribution to the British Army. Cockerill tells us, "It is estimated that of
10,000 boys who passed through the Royal Military Asylum between 1803 and 1892,
about 700 achieved commissioned rank i.e. 7 per cent. The others formed the core of the NCO ranks." [Cockerill, July 4, 2004.] British officers were mostly drawn from the privileged classes. Cockerill also points out, "This was true of all societies including the States at one time." [Cockerill, July 4, 2004.]
The British military schools werec for the children of the enlisted men. Here we see the British class system at work. The children of officers or boys planning to be officers did not attend these schools. Rather they attended the public (private boarding) schools. And then after the mid-19th century preparatory schools appeared for the younger boys. This basic system began to breakdown somewhat. Britain until World War I had a very small Army. They could find enough officers from the upper classes to lead a small army. This was no longer the case duting World War I. Thge British instituted concription to build a large army to fiught the massive German Army. As a result, they needed a larger pool of officers by widening the social base from which officers were recruited. They could no longer be limited to public scgool boys. This trend continued in World war II and the Cold war. And anotherpproblenm arose, many of the officers recruited from the middle class could not afford the fees for boarding schools when they were stationed over seas. As a result the ????? Places Scheme was implemented. This was a educational grant subsidy provided military and senior civil service famlilies overseas to help pay for boarding school places. This also assisted many boarding schools fill places as boarding declined in popularity in the 1960s and 70s. Many of these private Schools also had bursaries for the children of military families. The ??? Places scheme was not popular, however, with the Labour Party which was not that well desposed toward either the military or private schools. The program was terminated (19??). The British military and overseas commitments have been significantly reduced. The financial consequence were the amalgamation and closure of several smaller prep and public schools. This was particularly true girls' schools and prep schools. Many girls' prep schools had resisted going coeducational.
Cockerill, A.W. Information*Research*Publications.
Cockerill, A.W. E-mail message commuication, July 4, 2004.
Cockerill, A.W. Royal Hiberian Military School.
Related Military School Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Return to the Main military school page]
[England]
[France]
[Germany]
[Italy]
[Russia]
[United States]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]