OFFICER TRAINING CORPS
The Officer Training Corps started in 1860 supported by Universities and Public Schools with the aim of creating Officers fit for the army. The Boer War (1899-1902) increased the need for Officers. Chigwell School was one of a large number of Schools that responded to the call for volunteers. Pupils from the School attended O.T.C. Camp Mychette to receive training.
The most important part of training involved living under canvas for 10-15 days with strict uniformed discipline and without the influences of ordinary everyday life. Seniors slept four to a tent and had their meals in a marquee; younger cadets slept eight to a tent and ate their meals with the dust of toil in the company lines. Unless managed well, messing in the company lines could easily lead to a less assertive cadet not getting his fair share of food.
Commanders and their Adjutants, chosen from the Regulars—Guards, Rifles, or Sandhurst—supervised the cadets. Different Schools would train in the same camp causing rivalry; each eager to outperform the others for the 'honour of the regiment'. Up to fifty Schools met on some occasions which usually lead to more interesting events than those attended by a single University or by smaller groups.
By the end of the Great War the O.T.C. had provided the army with as many as 27,000 Officers.
Researched and written by Raymond Small.
Pictures courtesy of the Daylop Collection.
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