The Royal Indian Engineering College (or RIEC) was a British college of

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

run by the

India Office The India Office was a British government department in London established in 1858 to oversee the administration of the Provinces of India, through the British viceroy and other officials. The administered territories comprised most of the mo ...

to train civil engineers for service in the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

Public Works Department. It was located on the Cooper's Hill estate, near

Egham Egham ( ) is a town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna Carta was ...

, Surrey. It functioned from 1872 until 1906, when its work was transferred to India. The college was colloquially referred to as Cooper's Hill and I.C.E. College (I.C.E. being an acronym for Indian Civil Engineering).

History

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

was created in India in 1854, with responsibility for the construction of roads, canals and other civil engineering projects. It experienced difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified staff from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and in 1868 a scheme was proposed for a dedicated training college in England. The chief advocate of this scheme, and effective founder of the college, was Sir

George Tomkyns Chesney Sir George Tomkyns Chesney (30 April 1830 – 31 March 1895) was a British Army general, politician, and writer of fiction. He is remembered as the author of the novella '' The Battle of Dorking'' (1871), a founding work in the genre of invasion ...

. The India Office bought the Cooper's Hill estate for £55,000 in 1870; and the college was formally opened on 5 August 1872, with Chesney as its first President. The college educated about 50 students a year, who paid fees of £150 each. The curriculum included pure and applied mathematics, construction, architectural design, surveying, mechanical drawing, geometry, physics, geology, accounts, Hindustani, and the history and geography of India. By the late 1870s the college was training more civil engineers than were required in India; but, rather than scaling down its activities, Chesney broadened them. From 1878, the college began to train candidates for the Indian Telegraph Department. From 1881, it began to train candidates for non-Indian services, such as the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

, the

Egyptian Government The politics of Egypt takes place within the framework of a republican semi-presidential system of government. The current political system was established following the 2013 Egyptian military coup d'état, and the takeover of President Abdel ...

, and the

Uganda Railway The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the lin ...

. In 1885, the first

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

school in England was established at Cooper's Hill, with

William Schlich Sir Wilhelm Philipp Daniel Schlich (28 February 1840 in Flonheim – 28 September 1925 in Oxford), also known as William Schlich, was a German-born forester who worked extensively in India for the British administration. As a professor at Coop ...

as the founding director. In the face of competition from new training facilities for engineers elsewhere (notably at the new "redbrick" universities), the college closed on 13October 1906.

Architecture

The principal building at Cooper's Hill was a mansion house erected c. 1865 for the disgraced company promoter, Baron Albert Grant, to a semi-Gothic design by F. & H. Francis. The conversion of the house for educational use, the design of the interiors, and the addition of a new south wing (including a chapel) were undertaken by the architect Sir

Matthew Digby Wyatt Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt (28 July 1820 – 21 May 1877) was a British architect and art historian who became Secretary of the Great Exhibition, Surveyor of the East India Company and the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Camb ...

Rugby football team

In its day, the college's rugby union team, referred to by its opponents as "Cooper's Hill", was one of the most prominent rugby clubs in England. In the 1870s, it produced a number of famous international players including Stephen Finney, Petley Price, W. C. Hutchinson, N. F. Macleod, and F. D. Fowler. By the 1890s, the team was deemed of medium strength, and a long way behind the form of its heyday. This was put down to boys leaving school earlier than they had previously, thus the team became composed of men who were physically smaller in stature and physique than their predecessors.Marshall, Francis, ''Football; the Rugby union game'', (1892) (London Paris Melbourne, Cassell and company, limited) It boasted the following internationals who played for their countries whilst attending the college: * Stephen Finney (''first capped 1872'') * Henry Marsh (''first capped 1873'') * John Davidson (''first capped 1873'') * Josiah Edward Paul (''first capped 1875'') * W. C. Hutchinson (''first capped 1876'') * P. L. A. Price (''first capped 1877'') *F. D. Fowler (''first capped 1878'') *F. Dawson (''first capped 1878'') *N. F. MacLeod (''first capped 1879'')

After closure

After the college moved out in 1906, the buildings stood empty until bought in 1911 by Baroness Cheylesmore for use as a private home.Brunel University - Coopers Hill, Runnymede
Later, the site became Shoreditch College of Education, a teacher's college specializing in handicraft education, before becoming the Runnymede Campus of

Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...

(until 2007). The site was acquired in 2016 by the Audley Group for conversion into a retirement village, due to open in early 2019.

Cultural references

*The college is mentioned by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

in his novel '' Stalky & Co.'' (1899): one of the main characters, M'Turk, following schooling at the fictionalised

United Services College The United Services College was an English boys' public school for the sons of military officers and civil servants, located from 1874 at Westward Ho! near Bideford in North Devon, from 1904 at Harpenden, Hertfordshire, and finally at Windsor ...

, is supposed to be "going up for Cooper's Hill".

Presidents

* Lt Col. Sir George Tomkyns Chesney, 1872–1880 *Gen. Sir Alexander Taylor, 1880–1896 *Col. John Pennycuick, 1896–1900 *Col. Sir John Walter Ottley, 1900–1906

Other staff

Staff at the college included: * Calcott Reilly, Professor of Construction, 1872–1897 * William Cawthorne Unwin, Professor of Hydraulics and Mechanics, 1872–1884 *

Arthur Herbert Church Sir Arthur Herbert Church (2 June 1834 – 31 May 1915) was a British chemist, expert on pottery, stones and chemistry of paintings, who discovered turacin in 1869 and several minerals, including the only British cerium mineral. He was also a tal ...

, Lecturer in Organic Chemistry, 1888–1900 * Peter Martin Duncan, Lecturer in Geology and Mineralogy, 1872–1890 *

Harry Govier Seeley Harry Govier Seeley (18 February 1839 – 8 January 1909) was a British paleontologist. Early life Seeley was born in London on 18 February 1839, the second son of Richard Hovill Seeley, a goldsmith, and his second wife Mary Govier. When his fa ...

, Lecturer in Geology and Mineralogy, 1890–1905 *Lt George Sydenham Clarke, Professor of Geometrical Drawing, 1871–1880 * Wilhelm Philipp Daniel Schlich, Professor of Forestry, 1885–1905 *

Alfred Lodge Professor Alfred Lodge MA (1854 – 1 December 1937), was an English mathematician, author, and the first president of The Mathematical Association. Alfred Lodge was born in 1854 at Penkhull, Staffordshire, one of nine children to Oliver Lodge ...

, Professor of Mathematics, 1884-1904"Prof. Alfred Lodge"
Obituary, ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

''.

Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio (formerly known as Nature Publishing Group and Nature Research) is a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals, magazines, online databases, and services in scien ...

. Retrieved 13 April 2014 *

Joseph Wolstenholme Joseph Wolstenholme (30 September 1829 – 18 November 1891) was an United Kingdom, English mathematician. Wolstenholme was born in Eccles, Greater Manchester, Eccles near Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, Lancashire, England, the son of a M ...

, Professor of Mathematics, 1871–1889 * John Burrough, School chaplain 1903-06. *

Herbert McLeod Herbert McLeod, FRS (February 1841October 1923) was an English chemist, noted for the invention of the McLeod gauge and for the invention of a sunshine recorder. Biography McLeod was born in Stoke Newington on 9 Feb 1841 and died 3 October 1923 ...

, Professor of Chemistry *

Charles Alfred Barber Charles Alfred Barber C.I.E. (10 November 186023 February 1933) was a British botanist and specialist on sugarcane, who worked for much of his life in southern India. ''Saccharum barberi'', a species of sugarcane that grows wild in northern India ...

, botanist * William H. White, architecture *

George Minchin George Minchin Minchin (born George Minchin Smith, 1845–1914) was an Irish mathematician and experimental physicist. He was a pioneer in the development of astronomical photometry: the first-ever celestial photometric measurements were ...

, Professor of Applied Mathematics *

Dietrich Brandis Sir Dietrich Brandis (31 March 1824 – 28 May 1907) was a German-British botanist and forestry academic and administrator, who worked with the British Imperial Forestry Service in colonial India for nearly 30 years. He joined the British civi ...

Harry Marshall Ward Harry Marshall Ward (21 March 1854 – 26 August 1906), FRS, , was a British botanist, mycologist, and plant pathologist. He was one of the first scientists to study physiological plant pathology Born in Hereford, the eldest child of Francis ...

, botanist * Horace Bell (engineer)

Alumni

* Ali Nawaz Jung Bahadur, engineer *

George Charles Beresford George Charles Beresford (10 July 1864 – 21 February 1938) was a British studio photographer, originally from Drumlease, Dromahair, County Leitrim. Early life A member of the Beresford family headed by the Marquess of Waterford and the third ...

, photographer * Herbert George Billson, forester * John Boyle, politician * David Carnegie, explorer *Lt Col Sir

Peter Clutterbuck Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Peter Henry Clutterbuck (28 September 1868 – 20 December 1951) was a British colonial civil servant and expert in forestry conservation, who worked as the Inspector General of Forests to the Government of India. Early ...

, soldier and forester * George Coles, cricketer * John Davidson, rugby union player * Stephen Finney, rugby union international *

Cecil Ernest Claude Fischer Cecil Ernest Claude Fischer (9 July 1874 – 19 October 1950) was a botanist born in Bombay to European parents. He worked principally in the Indian Forest Service. Life Fischer was born in Bombay, India on 9 July 1874. Prior to university tr ...

, botanist *

Frederick Gebbie Sir Frederick St John Gebbie CIE (7 August 1871 – 20 March 1939) was a British civil engineer in India. Gebbie was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was educated at Edinburgh Collegiate School, the University of Edinburgh and the Royal ...

, civil engineer * Henry Guinness, civil engineer and banker * Charlton Harrison, civil engineer *

William Hutchinson William, Willie, Willy, Billy or Bill Hutchinson may refer to: Politics and law * Asa Hutchinson (born 1950), full name William Asa Hutchinson, 46th governor of Arkansas * William Hutchinson (Rhode Island judge) (1586–1641), merchant, judge, ...

, rugby union international * Christopher Ling, cricketer *

Francis McClean Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Francis Kennedy McClean, (1 February 1876 – 11 August 1955) was a British civil engineer and pioneer aviator. Sir Francis was one of the founding members of the Royal Aero Club and one of the founders of naval aviati ...

, civil engineer and pioneer aviator * Henry Marash, rugby union international * Arthur Edward Osmaston, naturalist *

Bertram Beresford Osmaston Bertram Beresford Osmaston CIE (3 January 1868 – 1961) was an officer in the Imperial Forestry Service in India. Known to many as "BB" he was born at Yeldersley Hall, Derbyshire. Born ninth into a family of fifteen, he was educated at Cheltenha ...

, forester * Josiah Edward Paul, rugby union international *

Gervas Pierrepont, 6th Earl Manvers Gervas Evelyn Pierrepont, 6th Earl Manvers, MC, JP (15 April 1881 – 13 February 1955), known as Gervas Pierrepont until 1940, was a British hereditary peer, soldier, landowner and member of the House of Lords. Early life and education The el ...

, soldier * Hugh Theodore Pinhey, soldier * Petley Price, rugby union international *

Frederick Campbell Rose Frederick Campbell Rose CSI (1865 – 18 July 1946) was a Scottish civil engineer who spent most of his career in India. Rose was born in Elgin and educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond and the Royal Indian Engineering College. He joined ...

, civil engineer *

Robert Scott Troup Robert Scott Troup (13 December 1874 – 1 October 1939) was a British forestry expert. He spent the first part of his career in Colonial India, returning to England in 1920 to head Oxford's School of Forestry. Education Troup was educated at ...

, forester * Frederick Sprott, cricketer and engineer *

John Claude White John Claude White (1October 18531918) was an engineer, photographer, author and civil servant in British India. From 1889 to 1908, White was the political officer in Sikkim, then a British protectorate. As part of his remit, he also managed Br ...

, engineer and photographer * Trevredyn Rashleigh Wynne, railway executive

References

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

The reforms of the Indian Public Works Department
{{Authority control Educational institutions disestablished in 1906 Brunel University of London Indian Civil Service 1872 establishments in England Universities and colleges established in 1872