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Royal Naval College Greenwich Centenary 1873 - 1973


By Wisdom As Much As War

World War 2 | Post War | Change | Present | WRNS | City University | Prospectus 1966

Introduction
The Royal Naval College at Greenwich was established by Order in Council in 1873. It took over the magnificent buildings of the Royal Hospital for Seamen, which had been designed by Wren in 1694 for William III as a home for aged and sick seamen. The Hospital had housed nearly 3,000 pensioners at its peak (1813) but, with long years of peace and the offer of money pensions in lieu of residence, numbers had shrunk to under 400. Administrative costs meanwhile had trebled owing in part to corruption reports on conditions were not flattering and in 1869 it was closed. The Hospital Infirmary was not taken over. This was leased to the Seamen's Hospital Society to replace the old 'Dreadnought' hospital hulk moored in the Thames and in turn it passed to the Ministry of Health in 1946. The Royal Hospital School for seamen's sons (which occupied the Queen's House and adjacent buildings) was carried on by the Foundation till 1933 when it moved to Holbrook in Suffolk. The Painted Hall and King Charles Block were used as a naval museum until 1937 when a National Maritime Museum opened in the newly vacated and restored Queen's House. The insides of the Wren buildings have been extensively remodelled as Hospital was turned into College, but the beautiful exterior has been preserved unchanged. Now the whole is scheduled as a national treasure under the Ancient Monuments Act and is maintained jointly by the Ministry of Defence and the Department of the Environment.

The wish of James Moncrieff in 1759 has been realised. 'This superb building' said he 'I would dignify with a use not dreamed of by the contrivers. From the couch and sepulchre of age, I would change it into the cradle and as it were, the forge of youthful merit.'

Officer recruitment and training
Officer entry into the Royal Navy was traditionally restricted to 'sons of officers' or 'sons of noblemen and gentlemen' privately 'nominated' as 'Captain's Servants' (with a few officially nominated as 'King's Letter Boys'), and all training was done at sea. The Admiralty had no control over entry or training though it did attempt to break in on this self-perpetuating closed shop of privilege by setting up a Naval Academy in Portsmouth in 1729. This first shore training establishment became the Royal Naval Academy in 1773, and was reconstituted .as the Royal Naval College in 1806, but its aim of wider entry and higher academic standards did not attract. Few, and especially few of the great sailors, went to it and it was closed with no regrets in 1837. In 1838 the Admiralty took more control by instituting an entrance examination. Farce though it was, it made rejection possible and when in 1870 'limited competition' was started only half the would-be entrants need be accepted. Meanwhile general training had gone back to sea, first in ordinary ships, then from 1857 in 'training ships' (Illustrious, Britannia). 'Ship' gave way once more to 'College' in 1905 when Osborne and Dartmouth were set up, and these were merged in 1921 with entry at age 13. Private 'nomination' ceased in 1913 though 'recommendations' subject to competition continued. In that year too the Navy moved away from the 'catch em young' policy by starting the 'Special' or 'Public School' Entry, a tap whose flow they could conveniently regulate. 13 year-old entry to Dartmouth was changed to 16 year-old (in 1947) then to 18 year-old (in 1956). And now, to match a changing world, there are University Cadetships and University Graduate entry as well as regular and increasing promotions from the lower deck.

Reform for a new age
The advent of steel and steam in the 19th Century made more specialised training necessary and in 1841 a new Naval College was established in Portsmouth 'to afford additional scientific training to officers'. This amalgamated with HMS Excellent - the gunnery school founded in 1832 - but it rapidly deteriorated into a promotion crammer. Traditionalists 'looked upon scientific attainments not so much as a waste of time but injurious to the acquisition of seamanship and the details of routine.' (2) However, a School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering was opened in 1864 at South Kensington by the Rev J Wooley (a later Director of Naval Education) undeterred that his first attempt at Portsmouth had lasted only 5 years (1848-53).

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