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TO THE

ARMY-COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS;

BEING A COMPENDIUM OF

PRACTICAL HINTS FOR CANDIDATES

WITH REFERENCE TO

SCHOOLS, ALLOWANCE, OUTFITS,

AND

OTHER EXPENSES;

TOGETHER WITH

EXTRACTS FROM THE EXAMINATION PAPERS,

Official Bules and Regulations,

AND ALL OTHER NECESSARY INFORMATION.

BY

CAPTAIN A. H. HUTCHINSON,

ROYAL ARTILLERY,

(LATE SUBALTERN OFFICER, ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY, WOOLWICH.)

LONDON:

EDWARD STANFORD, 6, CHARING CROSS.

1861.

231.

168.

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PREFACE.

HAVING been frequently applied to for advice upon the subject of Army Entrance Examinations, Schools, Outfits, Pay, &c., I thought it might be useful to collect together such information as would meet the numerous queries, even on trifling matters, which present themselves to the mind of every young man who may, for the first time, be turning his attention to the Military Profession.

Great care has been taken to procure correct and substantial details upon these various points. A minute description is given of the Chelsea Examinations, together with extracts from the Examination Papers and other statistics, most valuable to those who may have little or no acquaintance with that branch of the service to which they are about to devote themselves.

The want of such a Guide has long been felt, and it is hoped the following pages will supply the deficiency, and prove a useful and satisfactory assistant to those young men, for whose benefit they are especially intended.

Artillery Barracks,

Woolwich.

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GENERAL REMARKS.

THE profession of Arms has always been considered most noble and most honourable, and never more so than in the present day, when a considerable change has taken place in our military system. The standard of attainments, which an officer is expected to reach, has been recently raised to a very high degree. Hence a careful education, more or less scientific, must now be combined with the natural qualities of bravery, energy, and decision, to form a leader who shall possess the confidence, as well as the affection, of those he may be called upon to command.

Nor is this the only change which the progress of time has effected in our Army administration. The exclusive character of the nomination system, which for so many years restricted the patronage of the Army to a favoured class of individuals, has been extensively modified, and the new competitive system has placed the highest prizes within the grasp of the successful candidate.

For, as soon as he has completed a service of three years with his Regiment to the satisfaction of his Commanding Officer, he is at liberty to become a student in the Staff College should he be successful at the entrance Examination, and, after studying there for two years, is qualified for an appointment upon the Staff, and may thus gradually rise in his profession, until his talents and energy meet with their reward in some post of honour and distinction.

Even before the Army was thrown open by the Competitive system, how many rose to fame and important commands, unaided by interest in high places, helped forward solely by their own merit and exertions.

For instance, in our own day.

Sir Charles Napier, Sir Harry Smith, Lord Clyde, General Havelock, Sir R. Dacres, Sir Harry Jones, Sir Henry Lawrence, Colonel Edwardes, and many others.

B

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