Royal Indian Engineering College
Encyclopedia
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
founded by Sir George Tomkyns Chesney
George Tomkyns Chesney
Sir George Tomkyns Chesney, KCB, CSI, CIE , British Army general, brother of Colonel Charles Cornwallis Chesney.-Biography:...
in 1870. It was intended to train engineers for the Indian Public Works department. The work of the college was transferred to India in 1906.
The college was variously and colloquially referred to as "Cooper's Hill" and "I.C.E. College", (I.C.E. being an acronym for Indian Civil Engineering). The college was also referred to as RIEC.
The college interiors were designed by English architect Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt
Matthew Digby Wyatt
Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt 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 Cambridge.-Life:...
. After the college moved out in 1906, the buildings were empty until bought in 1911 by Baroness Cheylesmore
Herbert Eaton, 3rd Baron Cheylesmore
Major-General Herbert Francis Eaton, 3rd Baron Cheylesmore KCMG, KCVO was a British Army officer, sportsman, and peer...
for use as a private home. Later, the site at Cooper's Hill, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, became the Runnymede Campus of Brunel University
Brunel University
Brunel University is a public research university located in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom. The university is named after the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel....
.
The college is mentioned by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
who wrote that one of the main characters in Stalky & Co.
Stalky & Co.
Stalky & Co. is a book published in 1899 by Rudyard Kipling, about adolescent boys at a British boarding school. It is a collection of linked short stories in format, with some information about the charismatic Stalky character in later life. The character Beetle, one of the main trio, is partly...
— M'Turk
George Charles Beresford
George Charles Beresford was a Victorian studio photographer, originally from Drumlease, Dromahair, County Leitrim....
— is supposed to be "going up for Cooper's Hill" following schooling at the fictionalised United Services College
United Services College
United Services College was an English private boys' public boarding school for the sons of military officers, located at Westward Ho! near Bideford in North Devon...
.
Rugby Football
The college rugby union team, referred to by its opponents as "Cooper's Hill", was at one time one of the most prominent rugby clubs in England. It produced a number of famous nineteenth century international players including Finney, Price, Hutchinson, Macleod, 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 to their predecessors. It boasted the following internationals who played for their countries whilst attending the college:Stephen Finney
Stephen Finney
Sir Stephen Finney CLE was a rugby union international who represented England from 1872 to 1873.-Early life:Stephen Finney was born on September 8, 1852 in Marylebone. He was educated at Clifton College and the Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill...
(first capped 1872)Henry Marsh
Henry Marsh (rugby union)
Henry Marsh was a rugby union international who represented England in 1873.-Early life:Henry Marsh was born on September 8, 1850 in Ireland, the third son of Francis Marsh, a J. P. of Spring Mount, Queen's County. He attended Kingstown School, Ireland and went on to study at Royal Indian...
(first capped 1873)T. P. Davidson (first capped 1873)Josiah Edward Paul
Josiah Edward Paul
Josiah Edward Paul was a rugby union international who represented England in 1875.-Early life:Josiah Edward Paul was born in around June 1853, registered in Tetbury His father was Josiah T Paul, a solicitor, and his mother was Mary, who was twentyone years his father's junior. Josiah had at least...
(first capped 1875)W. C. Hutchinson
William Hutchinson (rugby union)
William Hutchinson was a rugby union international who represented England from 1876 to 1877.-Rugby union career:Hutchinson attended and played his club rugby for the Royal Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill. He was selected to play for England in 1876 and made his international debut on...
(first capped 1876)P. L. A. Price
Petley Price
Petley Price was a rugby union international who represented England on three occasions from 1877 to 1878.-Early life:...
(first capped 1877)F. D. Fowler (first capped 1878)F. Dawson (first capped 1878)N. F. MacLeod (first capped 1879)