The military influence on engineering education in Britain and India, 1848–1906

Abstract

The original colleges for military engineers—the Royal Military Academy (RMA) Woolwich and the East India Company (EIC) Seminary at Addiscombe—were the only outlet for a curriculum based on the theory and practice of engineering taught within an academically orientated institution in Britain during the nineteenth century. Overall, engineering in Britain was taught through work-related traditional apprenticeship systems that focused on the ‘practical man’ concept, supported from 1853 onwards with funding based on a payments-by-results system administered by the Department of Science and Art. This trend continued despite the introduction of modest engineering faculties within the British university system. In India, matters were different: there were four colleges of civil engineering, the oldest, Thomason College, having been founded in 1847. Their role was to provide civil engineers for the Indian Public Works Department. Both in Britain and in India, the administration and management of science, technical and engineering education was undertaken by officers from the Royal Engineers and the Indian Army equivalent, (commonly referred to as sapper officers). This trend in civil/military relationships continued with the establishment of the Royal Indian Engineering College (also known as Cooper’s Hill College) in 1870, specifically to train civil engineers in England for duties with the Indian Public Works Department. The comparisons between engineering education in Britain and India during the nineteenth century are stark. The role of the military in the development of engineering education both in Britain and India was crucial. The Indian Public Works Department, although technically a civilian organisation, relied on military engineers during its life until 1947. An examination of the topic from both the British and Indian perspective gives an insight not only into comparative engineering education but also into the civil/military relationships that existed in Britain and India during the latter half of the nineteenth century.