Addiscombe Military Seminary The East India Company Military Seminary was a British military academy at Addiscombe , Surrey , in what is now the London Borough of Croydon . It was opened in 1809 and closed in 1861 . Its purpose was to train young officers to serve in the East India Company ’ s private army in India . The institution was formally known as the East India Company Military Seminary ( a name the cadets always disliked ) until 1855 , when the name was changed to the East India Company Military College . In 1858 , when the college was taken over by the government , it was renamed the Royal India Military College . Colloquially , it was known as Addiscombe Seminary , Addiscombe College , or Addiscombe Military Academy . The Seminary was a sister institution to the East India Company College in Hertfordshire , which trained civilian " writers " ( clerks ) . In military terms it was a counterpart to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich , and a forerunner to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst . History . Addiscombe Place . Addiscombe Place , the mansion house which formed the central building of the later Seminary , was erected in about 1702 by William Draper , on land which he had inherited in 1700 from his aunt , Dame Sarah Temple . Draper ' s father - in - law was the diarist John Evelyn , who in 1703 pronounced the house " in all points of good and solid architecture to be one of the very best gentleman ' s houses in Surrey , when finish ' d " . Its interior included many mural paintings of mythological subjects , supposed to be the work of Sir James Thornhill ; while high up on the exterior east front was carved the Latin inscription , " Non faciam vitio culpave minorem " ( " I will not lower myself by vice or fault " ) . By the late 18th century the house was in the ownership of Charles James Clarke , who leased it to the statesman Charles Jenkinson , Lord Hawkesbury , later 1st Earl of Liverpool . Regular visitors during Liverpool ' s tenure included King George III and William Pitt . The military seminary . Following the death of Lord Liverpool in December 1808 , Addiscombe Place was put on the market by Emelius Delmé - Radcliffe ( Clarke ' s brother - in - law ) . It was bought by the Court of Directors of the East India Company for use as a military academy . Although the Company was primarily a trading concern , it also maintained its own army , the officers of which had previously been trained at the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich , at the Royal Military College Junior Department at Marlow , or privately . They were now to be trained at Addiscombe . The doors of the Seminary opened on 21 January 1809 , although the formal transfer of title of the property did not take place until a year later , on 26 January 1810 . The initial purchase comprised the mansion house and 58 acres of land to the south of Lower Addiscombe Road , but a further 30 acres to the north were subsequently acquired . New buildings were added , so that the mansion house , which had originally housed the entire establishment , became a purely administrative block . The additions included barracks , a chapel , a drawing and lecture hall , a hospital , a dining - hall , a sand - modelling hall , a gymnasium , and other service facilities including a bakehouse , dairy , laundry , and brew - house . Cadets and the curriculum . In the early days cadets entered the Seminary between the ages of 13½ and 16 , and later between 15 and 18 . They normally remained for 4 terms ( 2 years ) , although it was possible to pass the final examination within a shorter period . The initial intake comprised 60 cadets , but the numbers rose to about 75 a year , meaning that there were around 150 cadets in residence at any one time . Cadets or their families were required to pay fees ( £30 a year when the Seminary first opened ; £50 a term by 1835 ) , but these were heavily subsidised and represented only a proportion of the true costs of their education . Initially , the main purpose of the Seminary was to train cadets for the Engineer or Artillery arms of the service , but as an experiment in 1816 – 17 , and more permanently from 1827 , " general service " cadets destined for the Infantry were admitted . In all , some 3 , 600 cadets passed through Addiscombe during the years of its existence : of these , over 500 entered the Engineers , nearly 1 , 100 the Artillery , and about 2 , 000 the Infantry , some of whom subsequently transferred to the Cavalry . The curriculum comprised instruction in the " sciences of Mathematics , Fortification , Natural Philosophy , and Chemistry ; the Hindustani , Latin , and French languages ; in the art of Civil , Military , and Lithographic Drawing and Surveying ; and in the construction of the several gun - carriages and mortar - beds used in the Artillery service , from the most approved models " . In practice , the emphasis was on mathematics , and the Seminary was criticised for not including more training in practical " military science " . In the 1850s photography was also studied . J . M . Bourne concludes that the Seminary was " not a true military college at all , but a militarised public school " although he also judges that , by the standards of the age , its record as a military training school was not significantly worse than those of the establishments at Woolwich and Sandhurst . Cadets were required to wear uniforms at all times , and were not permitted to go into Croydon or beyond the grounds without permission . However , they gained a reputation for indiscipline , and fights with the townspeople of Croydon were not infrequent . There was no corporal punishment , but in the early years cadets could be punished by being put in the so - called " Black Hole " , and fed on bread and water . Until 1829 they worshipped regularly at Croydon Parish Church ( marching there each Sunday in uniform , accompanied by their band ) : after that date they began to worship at the newly consecrated St James ' s Church , Addiscombe . Public Examinations and Pollock Medal . Examinations were held twice - yearly in June and December : they lasted about three weeks , and culminated in a Public Examination , a day - long affair of some ceremony before a distinguished audience , which included orchestrated demonstrations of book - learning and of swordsmanship , pontoon - building , and other military exercises ; an exhibition of drawings and models ; a formal inspection ; and the distribution of prizes . The day ' s events are described in one account as " a performance carefully prepared and rehearsed beforehand . Its object was to make a favourable impression on a carefully selected audience . " The Public Examiner , who presided , was an eminent general ( see list below ) ; while the audience usually included some of the Directors of the East India Company , and often the Archbishop of Canterbury , who had a residence nearby at Addington Palace . In 1848 the Seminary began awarding the Pollock Medal to the best cadet of the training season . The award was named after Field Marshal George Pollock . The Pollock Prize was transferred to the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich after Addiscombe was closed . Headship . The Seminary ' s first Superintendent and Head Master was James Andrew , who had previously operated a successful private military academy at Woolwich Common , and who ran Addiscombe until 1822 . He was followed for two years by Major W . H . Carmichael - Smyth of the Bengal Engineers , stepfather of William Makepeace Thackeray , whose position was regarded as temporary and who used the title " Resident Superintendent " . The headship was then retitled Lieutenant - Governor , and was held successively by Lt - Col Robert Louis Houston ( 1824 – 34 ) , General Sir Ephraim Gerrish Stannus ( 1834 – 50 ) , and finally Sir Frederick Abbott ( 1851 – 61 ) , who had himself been a cadet at Addiscombe . Closure and development of the site . Following the Indian Rebellion ( or First War of Independence ) of 1857 , the East India Company was wound up in 1858 . The College passed into government hands , becoming known as the Royal Indian Military College , Addiscombe , but continued to perform much the same function . With the amalgamation of the Royal and Indian services in 1861 , there was initially a proposal that Addiscombe should be retained as a military college . However , the War Office decided that the establishments at Woolwich and Sandhurst were sufficient for their needs , and the College closed in June the same year . The site was sold on 30 August 1861 for £33 , 600 to the British Land Company , who demolished most of the buildings . All that remains are two former professors ' houses , " Ashleigh " and " India " , on the corner of Clyde Road and Addiscombe Road ; and the former gymnasium on Havelock Road , now private apartments . The Land Company laid out five parallel roads over the greater part of the grounds , and built them up with villas . The five roadsOutram , Havelock , Elgin , Clyde and Canning Roadsall took their names from soldiers and politicians prominent on the British side in the events of 1857 – 58 , although none was in fact a College alumnus . Notable staff . Staff at Addiscombe included : Public Examiners . The Public Examiners were :