A PIONEER OF ARMY EDUCATION: THE ROYAL MILITARY ASYLUM, CHELSEA, 1801-1821.

The article focuses on the Royal Military Academy, Chelsea, the pioneer of army education. The Royal Military Asylum at Chelsea opened its doors in 1803 to one hundred and twenty-three orphans. The foundation and growth of this establishment provided training during the year 1812 to some hundred and twenty Serjeant Schoolmasters for the Army. In its early days, the Royal Military Academy catered for all ranks, and the subjects it considered essential to a military education still form the basis of the educational curriculum of the soldier. In attempting any general estimate, it is doubtful whether it could lay claim to eminence as an educational pioneer. In one respect, however, the Royal Military Asylum made an altogether unexpected contribution to the field of adult education. The Royal Duke's well-known ability as an army administrator led him to see the possibility of using the orphanage as a training ground for the Serjeants selected to act as teachers in the regimental schools of 1812. These schools were to spring up all over the world and provided the foundations on which the first Inspector General of Military Schools was to build a quarter of a century later.