Burney's Academy, Clarence Square, c.1840s - Antique Lithograph

Burney's Academy, Clarence Square, c.1840s

Scarce original lithograph

Image size 11.4 x 18.4 cm

Framed and glazed in our studio using conservation materials

A particularly rare print showing boys of the school at play in Clarence Square with the dockyard in the distance. Presumably one of the large ships is HMS Victory.

Burney's Academy was established at Cold Harbour (later Clarence Square), Gosport in 1791 by the Reverend William Burney (1762-1832). It later acquired Royal patronage and was renamed the Royal Academy, though was still colloquially known as Burney's Academy. 

The school educated boys for careers in the navy and the army, being also used as a "crammer" before the taking of entrance exams for either service. A prospectus from the 1840s states that "The Establishment is of large extent, and eligibly situated in a fine open square, opposite the Dock Yard, and adjoining Portsmouth Harbour". Some quite distinguished pupils passed through the academy including a succession of royal princes (counting the future George V), Admiral Beatty, as well as Gosport's celebrated artist Martin Snape.

The school was closed in 1904 and very little trace of Clarence Square can be found today. There is an Edwardian brick school building still standing on Harbour Road that would once have sat on the southern side of the square, but the site is now transected by Mumby Road and occupied by a boat yard and 1970s residential buildings.