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The Royal Hibernian Military School (1765-1924)
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Introduction to Royal Hibernian Military School

Etching of the Royal Hibernian main building as it appeared in the late 18th Century Royal Hibernian Military School badge Last muster parade of the Royal Hibernians
before leaving Phoenix Park.

The Royal Hibernian Military School (1769 – 1924), Phoenix Park, Dublin, was originally the Hibernian Asylum created by the Hibernian Society, a philanthropic organization founded in Dublin in 1769 following the Seven Years War. The Society petitioned the King for a charter, which was granted. The Society’s aim was to help the orphaned children of soldiers who fell during the war, its services later being extended to the destitute families of soldiers leaving Ireland for overseas service.

When a regiment embarked for service overseas, six families per company only were allowed to accompany the battalion. Selection of the families permitted to travel was made by drawn lot. The families left behind were without support of any kind. They suffered misery and destitution. The burden of destitute military families fell hard on Ireland’s two main garrisons, Dublin and Cork. In 1785, a census revealed that in Dublin alone some 1,400 children whose father’s were dead or serving overseas were begging on the streets of the city. In 1806, responsibility for the Hibernian school was assumed by the military authorities. The institution was renamed the Royal Hibernian Military School.

In 1922, the boys and staff were moved to Shorncliffe and the premises taken over by the newly-formed government of the Republic of Ireland. The institution’s records were stored in Londong, but destroyed by fire during the London blitz of World War II in 1940. In 1924, those boys still in the RHMS school joined the Duke of York’s Royal Military School and the current documents in use – admissions registers, board minutes and commandant’s correspondence – moved with them.

The extant admissions registers were transferred to the National Archives, Kew, in January 2003. They are being transcribed by Peter Goble of Harrogate, who did similar research on the admissions registers of the Duke of York’s School for the period 1803 to 1880.

The material published on this web site has been drawn from a number of sources, including a hand-written history of the Hibernian School by two former pupils, Mr. F. H. Hawkins and Mr. E. Dillan (the history is now in the Library of the National Archives, Kew); some reports that have been found published in The Times, the records of the Genealogical Society of Ireland, The Irish Times, and two volumes of extant The Hibernian quarterlies in the possession of the DYRMS.

I wish to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Ms Charlotte Brewer, MA (Oxon) for her editorial assistance and Liz Arnsby of Arnsby Design for re-designing this web site and bringing order to it where there was formerly chaos.

AWC/February 2004


 
Table of Contents - Royal Hibernian Military School
Introduction
1769 Petition
1806 Pay and Allowances
1806 Weekly Governor's Report
1806 Time Table
1819 Charter
1819 Diet
1819 Staff Duties
1819 General Regulations
1844 Return of Religions
1849 S.S. Pemberton Orphans
1856 School Inspector Gleig
1857 China
1861 Benjamin Crowther, Confederate rebel NEW
1873 Religion
1900 Review at Phoenix Park
1918 Lost Boys
1919 Roll of Honour
1919 Recollections
1919 Lives of the Hibernians

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
1922 Last cricket match
1924 A soldier's orphan's story
1924 Last roll call
1924 Laying up the colours
1924 The final era REVISED
1937 A military misfit
1969 The bicentenary reunion
1994 Capt. Harry Bloomer MBE
2001 IGS No.25 History
2004 Newsletter
2005 The last known Hibernian
2007 Sources of Hibernian documents
 

Table of Contents - Royal Hibernian Military School
Introduction
1769 Petition
1806 Pay and Allowances
1806 Weekly Governor's Report
1806 Time Table
1819 Charter
1819 Diet
1819 Staff Duties
1819 General Regulations
1844 Return of Religions
1849 S.S. Pemberton Orphans
1856 School Inspector Gleig
1857 China
1873 Religion
1900 Review at Phoenix Park
1918 Lost Boys
1919 Roll of Honour
1919 Recollections
1919 Lives of the Hibernians
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
1922 Last cricket match
1924 A soldier's orphan's story
1924 Last roll call
1924 Laying up the colours
1924 The final era
1937 A military misfit NEW
1969 The bicentenary reunion
1994 Capt. Harry Bloomer MBE
2001 IGS No.25 History
2004 Newsletter
2005 The last known Hibernian
2007 Sources of Hibernian documents
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