Collection AR30 - Addiscombe Military Seminary: Drawings

Identity area

Reference code

AR30

Title

Addiscombe Military Seminary: Drawings

Date(s)

  • c.1740 - c.1909 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

1 vol

Context area

Name of creator

(1600 - 1873)

Administrative history

The East India company was granted its charter by Queen Elizabeth in 1600. It established the Addiscombe Military Seminary at Addiscombe Place in 1809, for the training of its officer cadets. In 1858, the Company's interests were transferred to the Crown, and the Seminary was renamed the Royal India Military College. It closed in 1861.

Archival history

Purchased as part of the Alderman JO Pelton (1854 - 1938) Collection (of Surrey books, prints, etc), July 1923. Formely classified at S70(355)ADD.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Accession Number: A30

Addiscombe Military Seminary Drawings

Volume containing civil and military engineering drawings made by Addiscombe cadets, with prints and sketches of Addiscombe House, of cadets, and of individuals associated with the House and the East India Company; printed ephemera and manuscript letters; etc.

Item date: c1740 - c1909

Accession date: Jul 1923

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Volume containing civil and military engineering drawings made by Addiscombe cadets, with prints and sketches of Addiscombe House, of cadets, and of individuals associated with the House and the East India Company; printed ephemera and manuscript letters; etc.

The principal feature of this volume is the series of about 40 sets of civil and military engineering drawings made by Addiscombe cadets, 1837 - 1843, mainly signed by Captain Hector Smith, assistant to the Professor of Fortifications. They include a plan of the Seminary grounds dated 1838, by Cadet Charles Jackson (p.5); and several other drawings showing details of the grounds. These are followed by miscellaneous prints (from various sources) and sketches of Addiscombe House/Military Seminary, of cadets, portraits of individuals associated with the House and with the East India Company, views of St James Church and other local scenes; and some printed ephemera, manuscript letters, newspaper cuttings etc (including a MS account of the death of the Earl of Liverpool in 1808, on p.89).

The leather binding may also date from the mid-nineteenth century. The volume appears to have been compiled in its present form in the early twentieth century, when the supplementary prints and other papers were added. 2 of these supplementary pieces (bound in as pp122-125 and 127-130) are in fact strays from the collection of miscellaneous Seminary records held at AR65.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Some of the records in our collections contain sensitive and personal data that we have a legal responsibility to control access to. In these circumstances, staff may search the collection on your behalf, having received consent or proof of death of the individual concerned.

Please contact us at archives@croydon.gov.uk for further information regarding the particular collection you wish to access.

You can make a request for information which may be in a closed record under the Freedom of Information Act, 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations, 2004. For more information about making a request, see the Croydon Council website (www.croydon.gov.uk). Making a request does not guarantee access to the information you ask for, as there may be a valid exemption from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

Conditions governing reproduction

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Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Volume measures 30cm x 48cm.

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

The official archives of Addiscombe Military Seminary, including admission registers of cadets, are held among the records of the India Office at the British Library (Asia, Pacific Africa Collections), 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB, reference numbers L/MIL/9/333 - 357. The records are summarised on pp113 - 123 of Anthony Farrington, The Records of the East India College Haileybury and other institutions (HMSO, 1976) which is held by the Local Studies Library at S70 (355) FAR.

Croydon Archives Service holds further non-offical archive materials relating to the Addiscombe Military Seminary at AR29, AR55, AR64, AR65 and AR85.

For a detailed history of the College, see Col. H.M.Vibart, Addiscombe: Its Heroes and Men of Note (1894) held by the Local Studies Library at S70 (355) VIB. This includes a list of cadets.

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Description control area

Description identifier

GB-352-ar30

Institution identifier

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Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

24/06/2015

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