Royal Hibernian Military School

Last updated

Mid 20th Century view of the school building in the Phoenix Park Royal Hibernian Military School-Unidentified building in unknown location%3F (34468192023) (cropped).jpg
Mid 20th Century view of the school building in the Phoenix Park

The Royal Hibernian Military School was founded in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland in 1769, to educate orphaned children of members of the British armed forces in Ireland.

Contents

In 1922 the Royal Hibernian Military School moved to Shorncliffe, in Folkestone, Kent, and in 1924 it was merged with the Duke of York's Royal Military School which, by then, was in its current location atop 'Lone Tree Hill' above Dover Castle.

General

The foundation of the School came about in 1769 when King George III granted a Charter of Incorporation on 15 July, the School Governors holding their inaugural meeting on 6 November in Dublin Castle. [1]

The buildings housing the school were erected in 1771 in the Phoenix Park, overlooking the village of Chapelizod in the Liffey valley (in full view of the Wicklow mountains). The chapel was designed by Thomas Cooley, while thirty years later Francis Johnston designed the extensions to the buildings. It first took in 90 boys and 50 girls as pupils (in the charge of an Inspector and Inspectress, assisted by the Chaplain and an assistant mistress) in March 1770. The site originally occupied 3 acres (12,000 m2) but by 1922 its boundary walls enclosed thirty three acres.

By 1808 the system and organisation of the school followed closely that of its sister school, the Duke of York's Royal Military School (then at Chelsea, London, England). By 1816, when Thomas Le Fanu (father of Sheridan Le Fanu) took over as chaplain, there were 600 children at the school.

In 1853 the school's first "stand of colours" were presented by the then Prince of Wales and, in the same year, the girls at the school left to join their own separate establishment, the Drummond School, which was founded for them at Chapelizod.

The school acted as a feeder to the British Army, where In the mid-19th century, children as young as 12 could enlist in the Army but generally enlistment began at 14. By the 1900s 50 per cent of pupils were going straight into the army. By this stage the school was not only an orphanage; for instance, the Army Non-Commissioned Officer father of Liam Mellows entered him there to get a good basic military training which he hoped would lead to an army career, instead it was used during the Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence, both in fighting and in training the flying columns in guerrilla warfare. [2]

Many of the school's pupils carried acts of gallantry in the wars that the British Army was involved in. One such individual was Frederick Jeremiah Edwards who was awarded the Victoria Cross for extraordinary bravery in the First World War. [3]

Relocation and merger

In 1922 the Royal Hibernian Military School moved to Shorncliffe, in Folkestone, Kent, and in 1924 it was merged with the Duke of York's Royal Military School which by then was in its current location atop 'Lone Tree Hill' above Dover Castle.

A stained glass window depicting a saluting boy soldier is sited above the 'minstrel gallery' type balcony of the Duke of York's School Chapel in Dover, and commemorates the merging of the schools. [4]

Dublin campus

Many of the school's original buildings remain and form a large part of St Mary's Hospital, [5] Phoenix Park. A war memorial to those pupils that were killed in World War 1, [6] the school's graveyard and protestant chapel also remain; [7] [8] the Roman Catholic chapel was demolished as the hospital site was developed.

Bohemian F.C.

Members of the school were instrumental in forming Bohemian F.C. in 1890. [9]

Commandants

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheridan Le Fanu</span> Irish Gothic and mystery writer (1814–1873)

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales, mystery novels, and horror fiction. He was a leading ghost story writer of his time, central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. M. R. James described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories". Three of his best-known works are the locked-room mystery Uncle Silas, the lesbian vampire novella Carmilla, and the historical novel The House by the Churchyard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenix Park</span> Park in Dublin, Ireland

The Phoenix Park is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying 2–4 kilometres (1.2–2.5 mi) west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) perimeter wall encloses 707 hectares of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since the 17th century has been home to a herd of wild fallow deer. The Irish Government is lobbying UNESCO to have the park designated as a World Heritage Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany</span> British prince; second son of George III

Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A soldier by profession, from 1764 to 1803 he was Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück in the Holy Roman Empire. From the death of his father in 1820 until his own death in 1827, he was the heir presumptive to his elder brother, George IV, in both the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Hanover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn</span> British prince, son of Queen Victoria (1850–1942)

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He served as Governor General of Canada, the tenth since Canadian Confederation and the only British prince to do so.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough</span> British field marshal (1779–1869)

Field Marshal Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough, was a senior British Army officer. After serving as a junior officer at the seizure of the Cape of Good Hope during the French Revolutionary Wars, Gough commanded the 2nd Battalion of the 87th Regiment of Foot during the Peninsular War. After serving as commander-in-chief of the British forces in China during the First Opium War, he became Commander-in-Chief, India and led the British forces in action against the Marathas defeating them decisively at the conclusion of the Gwalior campaign and then commanded the troops that defeated the Sikhs during both the First Anglo-Sikh War and the Second Anglo-Sikh War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballyfermot</span> Suburb of Dublin, Ireland

Ballyfermot is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is located seven kilometres west of the city centre, south of Phoenix Park. It is bordered by Chapelizod on the north, by Bluebell on the south, by Inchicore on the east, and by Palmerstown and Clondalkin on the west. The River Liffey lies to the north, and the Grand Canal, now a recreational waterway, lies to the south of Ballyfermot. Ballyfermont lies within the postal district Dublin 10. Cherry Orchard, which is also a suburb, is sometimes considered to be within Ballyfermot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">III Corps (United Kingdom)</span> Corps of the British Army in the First and Second World Wars

III Corps was an army corps of the British Army formed in both the First World War and the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of York's Royal Military School</span> Selective academy in Guston, Kent, England

The Duke of York's Royal Military School, more commonly known as the Duke of York's, is a co-educational academy with military traditions in Guston, Kent. Since becoming an academy in 2010, the school is now sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, and accepts applications from any student wishing to board. Before 2010, only those students whose parents were serving or had served in the armed forces were eligible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Seymour, 17th Duke of Somerset</span> British soldier, landowner, peer (1882–1954)

Evelyn Francis Edward Seymour, 17th Duke of Somerset was a British Army officer, landowner, peer, and for eight years Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire. He was also a baronet. Between 1 May 1882 and 5 May 1931, he was styled as Lord Seymour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Rowan</span>

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Rowan was an officer in the British Army, serving in the Peninsular War and Waterloo and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, head of the London Metropolitan Police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chapelizod</span> Northside village suburb of Dublin city, Ireland

Chapelizod is a village preserved within the city of Dublin, Ireland. It lies in the wooded valley of the River Liffey, near the Strawberry Beds and the Phoenix Park. The village is associated with Iseult of Ireland and the location of Iseult's chapel. Chapelizod is under the administration of Dublin City Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Cooley (architect)</span> British architect

Thomas Cooley (1740–1784) was an English-born Irish architect who came to Dublin from London after winning a competition for the design of Dublin's Royal Exchange in 1768.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Robinson (architect)</span>

Sir William Robinson PC(I) was a British architect, military engineer and politician. He held several posts in the Dublin Castle administration, including as Surveyor General of Ireland from 1671 until 1700. He was an influential figure in the development of classical architecture in Ireland, designing many buildings in the English Baroque-style, particularly in Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry</span> British Conservative politician, landowner and benefactor

Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry,, styled Viscount Castlereagh between 1872 and 1884, was a British Conservative politician, landowner and benefactor, who served in various capacities in the Conservative administrations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After succeeding his father in the marquessate in 1884, he was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland between 1886 and 1889. He later held office as Postmaster General between 1900 and 1902 and as President of the Board of Education between 1902 and 1905. A supporter of the Protestant causes in Ulster, he was an opponent of Irish Home Rule and one of the instigators of the formal alliance between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Unionists in 1893.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Taylor (British Army officer)</span> British Army general (1819–1904)

General Sir Richard Chambré Hayes Taylor was a senior British Army officer who served in the Second Anglo-Burmese War, the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny. Joining the General Staff in 1860, he was the British Army's Inspector General of Recruiting, then Deputy Adjutant-General to the Forces, briefly Adjutant-General, and finally for three years Governor of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was also Colonel of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and the East Surrey Regiment.

Thomas Philip Le Fanu (1784–1845) was an Irish Dean in the first half of the 19th century. He was the son of Joseph Le Fanu and Alicia Sheridan, and the father of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and William Richard Le Fanu. He married Emma Lucretia Dobbin.

George Thomas Colomb was a British Army general and a talented amateur artist.

The Dublin City Artillery Militia was a part-time reserve unit of Britain's Royal Artillery based in Dublin, Ireland, from 1854 to 1909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's Hospital (Phoenix Park)</span> Hospital in Dublin, Ireland

St Mary's Hospital in the Phoenix Park, Dublin offers stroke rehabilitation to patients of all ages, provides inpatient rehabilitation to older population and provides residential care to older persons. It's a multidisciplinary community hospital. It also provides outpatient services via the Day hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Military Infirmary</span> Former Georgian hospital in Dublin, Ireland

The Royal Military Infirmary (RMI) in Dublin was located at the southeastern edge of Phoenix Park, one of several former British military installations in the area. The hospital buildings are now part of the Irish Department of Defence's estate and currently houses Ireland's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The bulk of the British Army's medical services in Dublin were transferred from the RMI to a new hospital at Arbour Hill in Dublin in 1913. The Infirmary buildings are protected as they are nationally significant architecture.

References

  1. "Delta Tech Systems : Welcome". Achart.ca. Retrieved 20 August 2016. This is the site of choice for histories of the Duke of York's and Hibernian military schools, opposing views on 19th Century Army education, dedicated military history, and journalism of interest.
  2. "Witness Statement : Robert Brennan" (PDF). Bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie. p. 45. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  3. "Frederick J Edwards VC - victoriacross". vconline.org.uk. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  4. "RHibsWindow". Jao.delboys.com. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  5. "HSE.ie - Health Service Executive Website - Services for Older People in Dublin North Central". Archived from the original on 25 December 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
  6. "War Memorial Hibernian School Great War Memorial in Dublin 08, St. Mary's Hospital, Phoenix Park, Dublin City 08". Irishwarmemorials.ie. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  7. "1766 - Royal Hibernian Military School, Phoenix Park, Dublin - Architecture of Dublin City - Archiseek - Irish Architecture". Archiseek. 5 February 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  8. "1771 - Royal Hibernian Military School Chapel, Phoenix Park, Dublin - Architecture of Dublin City - Archiseek - Irish Architecture". Archiseek. 5 February 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  9. "Frank McNally: The Pisser Dignam's field". The Irish Times .
  10. "The Gazette, January 17, 1809" . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  11. "The London Gazette, October 26, 1858" . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  12. "The Gazette, November 29, 1878" . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  13. "The London Gazette, May 16 1879" . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  14. "The London Gazette, July 18, 1882" . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  15. "The London Gazette, June 11, 1889" . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  16. "Hart's Army List 1899". digital.nls.uk. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  17. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36854. London. 23 August 1902. p. 8.

Bibliography