Royal Military College, Sandhurst

The Royal Military College (RMC) was a British military academy for training infantry and cavalry officers of the British and Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire.

The RMC was reorganised at the outbreak of the Second World War, but some of its units remained operational at Sandhurst and Aldershot. In 1947, the Royal Military College was merged with the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, to form the present-day all-purpose Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

History

The College at Great Marlow

The RMC cricket field, c. 1895

Old College building at Sandhurst

Pre-dating the college, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, had been established in 1741 to train artillery and engineer officers, but there was no such provision for training infantry and cavalry officers.<ref>Cathy Downes, Special Trust and Confidence: The Making of an Officer (2013), p. 13</ref>

The Royal Military College was conceived by Colonel John Le Marchant, whose scheme for establishing schools for the military instruction of officers at High Wycombe and Great Marlow first met strong resistance on the grounds of cost.<ref name=JSCSC>Major-General John Gaspard Le Marchant (1766–1812) Template:Webarchive at da.mod.uk/colleges (Defence Academy web site)</ref>

There were already some small private military academies for aspiring infantry and cavalry officers in existence, notably one which had been operated at Chelsea by Lewis Lochée from about 1770 until he closed the academy in 1790, but none of them had any formal approval by the British government.<ref name=screen>J. E. O. Screen, “The 'Royal Military Academy' of Lewis Lochée“ in Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research Vol. 70, No. 283 (Autumn 1992), pp. 143–156</ref>

In 1799, Le Marchant established a school for staff officers at High Wycombe.<ref name=parade>Sovereign's Parade Programme (RMA Sandhurst, April 2012)</ref> In 1801, Parliament voted a grant of £30,000 for his more ambitious proposals,<ref name=JSCSC/> and in 1801 the school for staff officers at High Wycombe became the Senior Department of the new Military College.<ref name=parade/> In 1802, having been appointed as the first Lieutenant Governor of the College, Le Marchant opened its Junior Department at a large house called Remnantz in West Street, Great Marlow,<ref>R. H. Thoumine, Scientific Soldier, a Life of General Le Marchant, 1766–1812 (Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 61–79</ref><ref>Marlow Tour Template:Webarchive at marlowsociety.org.uk (Marlow Society web site)</ref> to train gentleman cadets for the infantry and cavalry regiments of the British Army and for the presidency armies of British India.<ref name=history>RMAS: The story of Sandhurst (Template:Webarchive) at army.mod.uk, accessed 6 July 2009</ref><ref name=parade/> 1802 was the same year as the founding of the French Army's Saint-Cyr<ref>Ecoles de Saint-Cyr at st-cyr.terre.defense.gouv.fr, accessed 6 July 2009</ref> and of West Point in the United States.<ref>Stephen Ambrose, Duty, Honor, Country: A History of West Point (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1966, Template:ISBN), p. 22</ref> General Sir William Harcourt was appointed as the first Governor of the Royal Military College at Great Marlow<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and continued in post until 1811.<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>

In January 1809, the East India Company established its own East India Military Seminary at Addiscombe to train officers for its armies.<ref>Haileybury College and Addiscombe military seminary (1822), p. 10</ref>

In 1812, the College's Junior Department moved from Great Marlow into purpose-built buildings at Sandhurst designed by James Wyatt,<ref>Sandhurst – Royal Berkshire History (Template:Webarchive) at berkshirehistory.com</ref> and was soon joined there by the Senior Department, migrating from High Wycombe. In 1858 this became a separate institution, the Staff College.<ref name=parade/>

On the outbreak of the Second World War, many of the cadets and staff of the Royal Military College were mobilised for active service, but the buildings at Sandhurst remained the home of the RMC's 161 Infantry Officer Cadet Training Unit. In 1942, this unit moved to Mons Barracks, Aldershot, and for the rest of the war the Sandhurst campus was used as a Royal Armoured Corps Officer Cadet Training Unit.<ref>Training Template:Webarchive at army.mod.uk</ref>

In 1947, a new Royal Military Academy Sandhurst was formed on the site of the Royal Military College, merging the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich (which had trained officers for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers from 1741 to 1939) and the Royal Military College (1802 to 1942), with the objective of providing officer training for all arms and services.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Governors and commandants

The Royal Military College was originally led by a governor, who was a figurehead, often non-resident, a lieutenant governor, who had actual day-to-day command of the college, and a commandant, who was the officer in charge of the cadets. In 1812, the posts of Lieutenant Governor and Commandant were merged into the role of Commandant. In 1888 the two remaining senior posts, Governor and Commandant, were merged into the single appointment of Governor and Commandant, which in 1902 was retitled as "Commandant".<ref>Conference Room Template:Webarchive at sandhurstcollection.org.uk (Sandhurst Collection web site)</ref>

Notable cadets

The most notable cadets of RMC Sandhurst include:

• Sir William Denison (1825–1826), Governor of New South Wales<ref>C. H. Currey, “Denison, Sir William Thomas (1804–1871)”, in Australian Dictionary of Biography, archived 18 February 2011</ref>
• Field Marshal Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar (1840–1841)<ref>Tony Heathcote, The British Field Marshals 1736–1997 (Leo Cooper, 1999, Template:ISBN), p. 114</ref>
• Field Marshal Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts (1850–1851)<ref>Brian Robson, "Roberts, Frederick Sleigh, first Earl Roberts (1832–1914)" Template:Webarchive Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2008, online edition, accessed 4 November 2023 Template:Subscription required</ref>
• Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby (1861–1862), Governor General of Canada
• King Alfonso XII of Spain (1876)<ref>'Death of the King of Spain' in The Times, 26 November 1885, p. 7</ref>
• Field Marshal Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer (1875–1876)<ref>Ian Finlayson, The Battle for Passchendaele: Australian Army Campaigns Series 28 (2020), p. 54 Template:Webarchive</ref>
• John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow (1878–1879), Governor-General of Australia<ref>"Hopetoun, 1st Earl of, John Adrian Louis Hope, later 1st Marquess of Linlithgow (1860–1908)" in Barry Jones, ed., Dictionary of World Biography (9th edition, 2022), p. 438</ref>
• Ronald Munro Ferguson, 1st Viscount Novar (1879–1880), Governor-General of Australia
• Field Marshal Viscount Allenby (1881–1882)<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
• Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet (1882–1883), Governor-General of New Zealand
• Field Marshal Earl Haig (1884–1885)<ref>Gerard De Groot, Douglas Haig 1861–1928 (Unwin Hyman, 1988, Template:ISBN), p. 29</ref>
• Sir Winston Churchill (1894)<ref>Roy Jenkins, Churchill: a Biography (2001, Template:ISBN), p. 20</ref>
• Prince Alexander of Teck (1894), later the Earl of Athlone, Governor-General of the Union of South Africa and Governor General of Canada<ref>G. E. Cokayne et al., The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, vol. XIII (Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000) p. 258</ref>
• Field Marshal Earl Wavell (1900–1901), Viceroy of India<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
• Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1903–1904)<ref>Tony Heathcote, The British Field Marshals 1736–1997 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 1999, Template:ISBN), p. 213</ref>
• Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet (1914), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster<ref>Robert Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975, Template:ISBN)</ref>
• Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa (1918–1919), First native-Indian full General of the Indian Army<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Field Marshal Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1919), Governor General of Australia<ref>'Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2007)</ref>
• General Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji Jadeja (1920–1921), second Indian Commander in Chief of Indian Army
• Thakur Nathu Singh Rathore (1921–1922), Lieutenant General, Indian Army
• Field Marshal Ayub Khan (1926–1927), President of Pakistan<ref>Karl J. Newman, Pakistan unter Ayub Khan, Bhutto und Zia-ul-Haq (Template:ISBN), p. 21</ref>
• General Iskandar Mirza, President of Pakistan
• Ian Fleming (1927), author, creator of James Bond<ref>Ben Macintyre, For Your Eyes Only (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008, Template:ISBN), p. 33</ref>
• David Niven (1930), actor, novelist<ref>Eric Pace, "David Niven Dead at 73" Template:Webarchive, The New York Times Obituary, 30 July 1983, accessed 11 July 2018</ref>
• Mohammad Usman (1932–1934), Brigadier, Indian Army, "Lion of Naushera"

External links

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