CHAPTER IV.

THE SCHOOL OF MILITARY ENGINEERING.

Inefficiency of the Corps-Pasley's views on the want of proper instructionSiege course taught at Plymouth-Proposals for a School of EngineeringRoyal Warrant for the Chatham Establishment-The First Order-Improvement in Pontoons-Theoretical Instruction of the Non-commissioned Officers and men-Its Success—Architectural and Surveying CoursesDestruction of wrecks in the Medway-Blowing up the Royal George at Spithead Depôt of the Corps removed from Woolwich to Chatham in 1850-Committee on the School in 1865-Synopsis of present Courses— Cardew's Electrical Inventions-Abney's Chemical and Photographic Inventions-Ballooning-Staff at the School-Formation of Royal Engineer Band-Mess Establishment-Portraits-Plate-Memorials in Rochester Cathedral.

THE School of Military Engineering at Chatham unquestionably owes its origin to the persistent advocacy of the late Sir Charles Pasley, R.E., who was appointed its first Director. From the time he entered the Corps of Royal Engineers, Pasley had devoted himself to the question of improving the scientific status of that branch of the service. The experience he gained in war in the retreat to Corunna, and in the Copenhagen and Walcheren expeditions, showed him but too clearly how deficient in the proper knowledge of field engineering were not only the men of the Royal Military Artificers, but also the officers of the Corps. He has recorded his views as they were held by him in the year 1809:

"The important department in which I had the honour of serving, was so imperfectly organized, that I considered the British army, though admirably adapted for battle, from the excellent discipline of the cavalry, artillery, infantry, and riflemen, or other light troops, was incapable of succeeding in a siege, though one of the most important operations of war, without either having recourse to the barbarous measure of incendiary bombardment, or without an enormous sacrifice of the lives of officers and soldiers in sanguinary assaults, which might be rendered unnecessary by a more efficient organization of the Royal Engineer Department, and especially in forming a well-instructed and well-disciplined body of engineer soldiers diligently exercised in all the operations of a siege, particularly in military mining; and also in the formation of military bridges. The better instruction of the junior officers of the Royal Engineers appeared no less essential, for at that time they were

not even taught the theory of the attack of fortresses at Woolwich Academy. As for practical instruction, they had none; for they were sent on service without ever having seen a fascine or a gabion, without the smallest knowledge of the military passage of rivers, of military mining, or of any other operation of a siege, excepting what they might pick up from French writers, of which a striking proof occurred in Sir John Moore's retreat, when all the attempts to blow up stone bridges, to impede the progress of the enemy, failed in effecting complete demolition, with the exception of one only, which Lieut. Davy, a very promising young officer, succeeded in completely destroying, but at the expense of his own life, which he lost from not understanding the very simple precautions necessary to insure the safety of the person who fires the train of a mine. For my part I should not even have known how to make a battery in the attack of Copenhagen, the first siege in which I was employed, but for the information I derived from a French book on the subject.'

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Such were Pasley's views as gained from experience in war. Even before the expedition to the Scheldt took place, he had laid a paper before the Earl of Chatham, then Master-General of the Ordnance, drawing attention to the miserable inadequacy of the instruction given at the Woolwich Academy, and offering to submit to the loss of his commission if he failed to make good his charges against the system. Nothing came of this appeal, but in no way daunted, early in 1811 he took a similar step with the Earl of Mulgrave, the new Master-General, earnestly soliciting him to remove these defects in the instruction of the officers and soldiers of the Royal Engineer Department, from which he anticipated great disasters in case any important siege should be undertaken.

At this time the inefficient state of the Corps seems to have been very imperfectly known even amongst its own senior officers, and was unsuspected by the rest of the army. The younger officers of the Engineers were but too well acquainted with the fact. As Pasley records:

"It had been deeply felt and lamented by those officers who had commenced their military career in the first war with the French Republic in 1793, and had afterwards served in Egypt and on other expeditions terminating in a less satisfactory manner. Young, or in the prime of manhood-full of enterprise and zeal, meeting and comparing notes together in the metropolis after the desultory expeditions in which they had served, and afterwards those employed in 1810 in the construction of the lines of Torres Vedras-meeting from time to time in some central spot, they excited in each other, and inspired their juniors with an esprit de corps and a devotion to the service of their Sovereign and country, that I do not suppose were ever exceeded. Capt. Charles Lefebure, who had served in the West Indies and in Holland, and had been the Commanding Engineer under Sir John Stuart in Calabria,

afterwards unfortunately killed at Matagorda, near Cadiz, was at first the most influential of these officers. He it was who first pointed out to me and other officers, his juniors, as early as 1805, the inefficiency of the Corps for want of well-disciplined and instructed Sappers and Miners, which fatal experience afterwards proved to be too true. Of those employed in the Spanish peninsula some years later, Capt. John Squire, a man of superior literary and classical, as well as of professional attainments, contributed most to keep up this noble spirit, and it was gratifying to me to find that our opinions on the state of the corps, and on the management of the war, always agreed."

Lord Mulgrave received Pasley's communications in a very encouraging manner, and seemed prepared to admit that there was much reason in what he urged. Encouraged by this, Pasley, who was at the time stationed at Plymouth, took the opportunity of carrying into effect, at his own expense, a system of practical and theoretical instruction for the junior officers of the Corps, and for the Non-commissioned Officers and men of the Company of Royal Military Artificers who were quartered there. The latter having volunteered to practise the operations of a siege after the close of their working hours, were taught the construction of gun and mortar batteries, parallels, and approaches, as well as the making of gabions, fascines, and other siege matériel. They also attended evening school, where they learnt practical geometry, plan-drawing, and elementary fortification, a course having been drawn up for the purpose by Pasley.

The result of this year's work was so satisfactory that it proved, beyond doubt, what additional value would be imparted to the Corps, especially to the Non-commissioned Officers and privates, by a thorough practical training in field duties. Matters were in this promising state when Lord Wellington wrote his letter of February 11th, 1812, from Freneda, in which he urged the addition of a Corps of Sappers and Miners to the Engineer's establishment, adding:

"It is inconceivable with what disadvantage we undertake anything like a siege for want of assistance of this description. There is no French corps d'armée which has not a battalion of sappers and a company But we are obliged to depend for assistance of this description upon the regiments of the line, and although the men are brave and willing, they want the knowledge and training which are necessary."

of miners.

The result of this letter, coming, as it did, after Pasley had been so successfully conducting his first experimental training at Plymouth, was prompt and decisive. He was summoned to London to submit his plan for the instruction of the junior officers of the Corps and the Non-commissioned Officers and men of the Royal

Military Artificers to Lieutenant-General Mann, the InspectorGeneral of Fortifications. That officer appointed a Committee, consisting of three Engineer officers, Lieutenant-Colonels Bridges, Rowley, and Bryce, to draw up a report on the scheme, for the information of the Master-General.

This Committee approved and recommended the adoption of the whole of Pasley's course for both officers and men, with the exception that they did not see the necessity for the latter to know anything of elementary fortification. At the same time, they proposed that the title of Royal Military Artificers should be changed to that of Sappers and Miners. This report reached Lord Mulgrave early in April, 1812, and on the 23rd of that month he obtained a Royal Warrant for an establishment for "the Instruction of the Corps of Royal Military Artificers, or Sappers and Miners, and the junior officers of Royal Engineers, in the duties of Sapping and Mining and other Military Field Works."

Captain Pasley was appointed Director of the new Establishment, which was to be formed at Chatham, and he was given the rank of Major on the occasion. A party of four young officers and a strong detachment of Non-commissioned Officers and men were ordered to the station to be the first to undergo the course of instruction. The four officers were Edward Matson, Lancelot Machell, Francis Y. Gilbert, and Arthur Thompson.

On October 28th, 1812, Major Pasley issued his first order to start the new School of Military Engineering, or as it was then called, Royal Engineer Establishment. It ran as follows:

"By virtue of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent's warrant, issued in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, bearing date the 23rd April, 1812, whereby he has pleased to authorise an Establishment for the Instruction of the Corps of R. M. Artificers, or Sappers and Miners, and of the Junior Officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers in Military Field Works, of which Major Pasley has been appointed Director, the N. C. Officers and Privates of the Detachment who are, or may hereafter, be employed in learning the practical part of the field Duties, shall be classed as follows:-All N. C. Officers, not Qualified to act as assistant Teachers, shall be put upon the first Class allowance immediately on joining this Establishment, but the Privates shall be put on the Second Class until a sufficient period shall have elapsed to enable the Officers to judge of their merit, after which those who are recommended as the most deserving men, shall be placed on the first Class. Drummers not grown up shall be placed on the Third Class, as shall also be placed such Privates as are negligent and inattentive

This cumbrous title was changed on March 5th, 1813. The words Military Artificer were abolished, and the Corps known simply as Royal Sappers and Miners.

to their Field Duties, or who are guilty of unsoldierlike conduct and irregularities. . The allowance for the three Classes are as follows:-The 1st Class, 9d. per diem; the 2nd Class, 6d. per diem; and the 3rd Class, 3d. per diem.

"The temporary Field Works which will be constructed here merely serve for the Instruction of the men, so that after one set of men has been trained, the works erected by them will be pulled to pieces and the ground levelled, in order that new works may be constructed for the instruction of another Party.* As these works will, therefore, not be of any permanent use or benefit to the Country, like the works which the men will be employed in constructing in Garrisons, the allowances granted to men employed in this Establishment must be considered very liberal on the part of Government.

"It is intended that the whole Corps of R. M. Artificers or Sappers and Miners, shall go through the same course of duty at present performed by the detachment here, receiving the above-mentioned allowances, until they have learned their Field Duties, and everyone knows that in all trades and professions, a learner or apprentice cannot expect the same wages as he might claim when perfect in it. But at all other times when employed in work they will receive the regular working pay specified in His Majesty's warrant for the formation of the Corps with which the present warrant does not interfere, the Duties being perfectly distinct, &c. &c. &c.

"The men will parade for drill at 7 a.m., 10.30 a.m., and 2 p.m. The new detachment will commence Practical Geometry, Arithmetic, &c., to-morrow morning, and those who attend these studies shall be exempt from the morning drill. Those who are reported perfect in drill will commence Field Works on Monday morning." †

Thus the new school started, and from that day to this it has been maintained in an ever-increasing state of efficiency. What has been written will show how completely the paternity of the establishment must be attributed to Pasley. Still, as he himself was always most anxious to acknowledge, nothing would probably

Until of late years the work of levelling was performed by men of the Corps. Now, however, a party of convicts is employed for the purpose, as well as for other simple labouring work in connection with the School. Hence they have received from the men the soubriquet of "The Second Battalion."

This order forms the first entry in the regimental order book of the Establishment. The following from the same source is also worth preserving :-"It is proposed that the Barracks shall be Illuminated this evening. The Offrs. are requested to illuminate their own rooms, taking care that the candles shall be placed at such a distance as not to injure the sashes. The N.C. Offrs. & Men will have leave this evening till eleven o'Clock, in commemoration of Lord Wellington's late Glorious Victory, in which the French Army, commanded by Joseph, the brother of Bonaparte, who styles himself King of Spain, was totally defeated; all their baggage and Ammunition taken; all their Artillery, except one Howitzer, as also the whole of the treasure belonging to the Army.' This refers to the battle of Vittoria.