Extremely rare antique Greenwich Royal Naval Hospital School 128 point desk compass c1895

Antique compass having 3¼” printed and hand-tinted paper card displaying the full 128 points of the compass rose to the outer scale, with cardinals and intercardinals, fleur-de-lys indicating north to the inner, circled by the school name “Greenwich Royal Naval Hospital School.” The centre decorated with the Royal Standard with blue/white needle on jewelled suspension above. The original flat glass held in a spun brass case, the inside painted white. The base covered with later green baize.

Condition: The compass working well, swinging freely and finding north easily. The glass with a few light marks, the paper card with signs of ageing. The brass case with good patina.

Comments: The School was founded in 1712 as part of Greenwich Hospital, a ‘charitable institution for the aged, infirm or young’, and was established to provide boys from seafaring backgrounds with the rare privilege of learning arithmetic and navigation. It was at this time located in the buildings which now house the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. In 1892, following a series of royal visits, the title “The Royal Hospital School” was formally adopted. The School moved from Greenwich in 1933. (From the School’s website: royalhospitalschool.org)

This educational compass would have been used to teach the boys to “box the compass” – naming the 32 principal points of the compass in clockwise order – and to learn the full 128 directions created by dividing the 32 point rose with the half and quarter points. The rose of this compass is designed to be read in a clockwise direction.

This is the only such compass we have seen, and a very rare and interesting piece of navigational education history.