Addiscombe Military Academy

Addiscombe Military Academy was a British military officer training school in Addiscombe in the London Borough of Croydon. The academy was a sister college to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and an early forerunner to the much later Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The Academy was set up to be the East India Company’s Military Seminary and was responsible for the schooling of officers during the mid 19th century who were to serve in India under the British Empire. It lasted from 1809 closing in 1860. [ [http://www.haileybury.herts.sch.uk/archives/roll/HEIC%20VC.htm Easy India Company (see Addiscombe section), Accessed 2007] ]

In 1848 the Academy started awarding the Pollock Medal to the best cadet of the Academy training season. The award was named after Field Marshall George Pollock. The Pollock Prize was transferred to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich when the East India Company's Military Academy at Addiscombe was closed after the transfer of military power in India to the British Army.

History

In 1702, 'Addiscombe Place' was as a country house, on the edge of London. This was one of three great houses, which once stood in the area, the others being 'Ashburton House' and 'Stroud Green House'. In 1809, Emelius Ratcliffe sold Addiscombe Place to the British East India Company, whereupon it became a Military Seminary.

The company dealt in the importation of tea, coffee, silk, cotton and spices. The company maintained its own private army. The officers of this army were trained at Addiscombe, before setting off for India. In 1858, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (also called the First War of Indian Independence and best known as the Indian Mutiny), the British East India Company ceased to be. The college closed in 1860 and was sold to developers in 1863, for £33,600.

They razed it to the ground with dynamite. All that is left are the two buildings, 'Ashleigh' and 'India', on the corner of Clyde Road/Addiscombe Road and the former gymnasium on Havelock Road, now private apartments. Five parallel roads were laid out, south of the former college site. These being Outram, Havelock, Elgin, Clyde and Canning Roads. They were all named after individuals who were prominent in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny, who, interestingly enough, were not actually college alumni.

Famous Students

* Henry Tombs, awarded the Victoria Cross. [ [http://www.haileybury.herts.sch.uk/archives/roll/HEIC%20VC.htm East India Company Award Recipients, Accessed 2007] ]
* William Olpherts, a general in the East India Company, who was also awarded the VC.
* Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala.
* Charles Waddington (army engineer), major-general in the Bombay Engineers

References