The Scottish Naval and Military Academy in Edinburgh was a school which opened on 8 November 1825.[1] It catered for boys intending to have a career with the Army, Navy or the East India Company. It closed in July 1858.[2] It was re-formed as the Scottish Institute for Civil, Commercial and Military Education in October 1858 and closed around 1865.[3]

Captain John Orr (1790-1879) was the superintendent of the Scottish Naval and Military Academy for thirty-three years from 1831, having fought with the Black Watch in the Peninsular War and was wounded at the Battle of Waterloo.[4]

In 1829 the Academy moved into the three-storey building on Lothian Road opposite Castle Terrace,[5] which it shared with the Royal Riding Academy. The building was demolished in the 1870s to make way for the Caledonian Railway Station.

A noted master at the Academy was James R. Ballantyne, later head master of the Sanskrit College in Benares (modern-day Varanasi), who from 1832 to 1845 taught "Persian, Hindoostanee and Arabic" from classical texts.[6]

Sir Henry Yule was both a pupil and a master. He is famous for his dictionary of Anglo-Indian terms called Hobson-Jobson.[7]

Another lecturer was William Swan, who taught mathematics and physics, and conducted some notable experiments at the Academy.

Other subjects taught were: Military Engineering: Fortifications, Military Drawing and Surveying; Drawing: Landscape and Perspective; Higher Mathematics; Navigation; Chemistry; Military Antiquities; Latin and Greek; Elementary Arithmetic and Book Keeping, Algebra and Geometry; Geography; Natural Philosophy and Navigation; History; Elocution; French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese; Fencing, Gymnastics and Military Exercises with the Firelock and Broadsword.[8][1]

Some notable alumni

References

  1. 1 2 Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1842. p. 424.
  2. ↑ "Letter to the Prince Consort". Edinburgh Evening Courant. 28 August 1858.
  3. ↑ "Notice published by the Scottish Institute". The Scotsman. 8 September 1858.
  4. ↑ "Captain John Orr 1790 – 1879". Inverclyde's Heritage.
  5. ↑ "OS1/11/104/25". Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "Curious Edinburgh:Scottish Naval and Military Academy". Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  7. ↑ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004), "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. ref:odnb/30291, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30291, retrieved 2 May 2023
  8. ↑ "Re: Scottish Naval & Military Academy". Genealogy.com. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
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