The College at Great MarlowThe RMC cricket field, c. 1895Old 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.[1]
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.[2]
There were already some small private military academies for aspiring infantry and cavalry officers in existence, notably one which had been operated at ChelseabyLewis Lochée from about 1770 until he wound it up in 1790. But none of them had any formal approval by the British government.[3]
In 1812, the College's Junior Department moved from Great Marlow into purpose-built buildings at Sandhurst designed by James Wyatt,[13] and was soon joined there by the Senior Department, migrating from High Wycombe. In 1858 this became a separate institution, the Staff College.[4]
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.[14]
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.[15]
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".[16]
^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
^ abcdSovereign's Parade Programme (RMA Sandhurst, April 2012)
^R. H. Thoumine, Scientific Soldier, a Life of General Le Marchant, 1766–1812 (Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 61–79
^'Death of the King of Spain' in The Times, 26 November 1885, p. 7
^Ian Finlayson, The Battle for Passchendaele: Australian Army Campaigns Series 28 (2020), p. 54Archived 4 November 2023 at the Wayback Machine
^"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
^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
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