[HISTORICAL NOTICE.]
The Senior Department of the Military College at Sandhurst was constituted in 1808, to enable officers “to qualify themselves for the Quartermaster-General’s and Adjutant-General’s departments;” and during the Peninsular war, most of the officers in these branches of the service were educated there. So high was its reputation, that the French Staff School was suggested and modeled after it. From motives of economy, its independent government and instruction was gradually reduced, and its graduates, no matter how well qualified, were no longer sure of appointment and promotion, as against purchase, until, in 1855, it became virtually extinct,—the teaching force being reduced to two professors in mathematical studies, and the number of students to six. In the same year, the French Staff School, with its thirteen military and five civil professors, and its range of instruction covering the entire field of practical duties which belong to an efficient staff officer, was held up as a model. In the plans and discussions respecting the reorganization and extension of the educational system of the army, which followed the Crimean war—in the Report (1855) of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Sandhurst; on the suggestions (1856) of the Commissioners on the Training of officers for the Scientific Corps; the plan of Mr. Sidney Herbert, as Secretary of War, in 1854 and 1856; in the instructions of Lord Panmure, in 1856; in the resolution of the House of Commons, July 28, 1857; in the recommendation of the Royal Commission on the purchase system, in their Report of 1857; in the plans of the Council of Military Education, in the same year—the supreme necessity of a staff college, with admission by competitive examination, and the assured encouragement of appointment and promotion on ascertained proficiency and general fitness, was so clearly demonstrated, that at the close (December 17) of 1857, the Senior Department of Sandhurst was changed to that of a staff college, with a corps of professors of its own. A separate building was completed for its accommodation, in 1862; admission was open to officers of all branches of the service by competitive examination. All appointments to the Staff were limited to graduates of the College, who had been attached, for specified periods, to each branch of the service, and to officers of approved ability in the field.
The present establishment consists of
1 Commandant; 1 Adjutant; 2 Professors of Mathematics; 7 Professors (1 in each) of Military history, Fortification and Artillery, Military Topography, Military Administration, French, German, and Hindustani; besides the services of the Riding-master, and the Professors of Chemistry and Geology attached to the Cadet College of Sandhurst.
CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION IN 1868.
The college consists of thirty students. Fifteen vacancies will be offered for competition annually. Only one officer at a time can belong to the college from a battalion of infantry or a regiment of cavalry, and only four officers from the Corps of Royal Artillery; but any number can compete. The officer desiring to compete must be serving with his regiment.
The qualifications requisite for admission are:
1. A service of not less than five years previous to examination, exclusive of leave of absence.
2. A certificate from his commanding officer, as to his standing as a regimental officer, and his general knowledge of the service, character, habits, and disposition in respect to employment on the staff.
3. Certificate of having passed the examination for a troop or company.