How the Crimean War Helped Start a US School in Turkey

Robert College in 1918. Public Domain

On Oct. 25, 1854, one of the most memorable, heroic and tragic moments in military history took place. A British officer by the name of James Brudenell recalled the moment: “We advanced down a gradual descent of more than three-quarters of a mile, with the batteries vomiting forth upon us shells and shot, round and grape, with one battery on our right flank and another on the left, and all the intermediate ground covered with the Russian riflemen.”

Brudenell, also known as Lord Cardigan, had commanded this charge into the “shells and shot, round and grape.” The moment would be memorialized later that year by Britain’s poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” It was apparent that Tennyson had read Brudenell’s account, as one of his stanzas reads:

Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell Rode the six hundred.

Many enjoy the charging rhythm of Tennyson’s poem, here visualized in “Charge of the Light Brigade,” 1894, by Richard Caton Woodville Jr. Public Domain

The light brigade’s charge came during the Crimean War’s Battle of Balaclava. The British, allied with the French and Turks, were warring against the expanding empire of Russia. Though the Crimean War waged from 1854 to 1856, the British casualties were not solely on the battlefield. The British Army’s poor administration led directly to the end of Prime Minister Lord Aberdeen’s government, which was replaced by Lord Palmerston.

The Arrival of Nightingale

While the Light Brigade was charging, Florence Nightingale and her London nurses were traveling to Constantinople (today’s Istanbul). When Nightingale reached Scutari (today’s Uskudar), a section of Constantinople on the eastern side of the Bosphorus Strait, she realized that the news reports could hardly do justice to the deplorable situation. The hospital was overflowing with wounded and dying soldiers, there was great deficiency in basic medical equipment, and worse, the hospital was filthy and unsanitary. One surgeon noted that “All were swarming with vermin, huge lice crawling all about their persons and clothes.”

Florence Nightingale with her candle making a night round of the wards at Scutari hospital.
Wellcome Images/CC BY 4.0

Nightingale’s efforts, which were revolutionary, led to her immortalization by poem. This one, however, was written by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

Lo! in that house of misery A lady with a lamp I see Pass through the glimmering gloom, And flit from room to room.

Longfellow’s poem about Nightingale, entitled “Santa Filomena,” may be why he is one of the few American writers whose bust was placed in Westminster Abbey’s Poets Corner (he is believed to be the first American given this honor).

An American Missionary on the Bosphorus

While Nightingale and her nurses were working in Scutari to revive and heal the wounded, a short distance away in Bebek, on the opposite side of the Bosphorus Strait, was the American missionary Cyrus Hamlin. He had arrived well before Nightingale—indeed, well before the outbreak of the war.

Cyrus Hamlin. Public Domain

In 1837, Hamlin was appointed by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) as a missionary. He had requested to be sent either to Europe or Africa. Instead, he was sent to Constantinople. Before setting sail for the capital of the Ottoman Empire in December of 1838, Hamlin married Henrietta Jackson.

Hamlin and his new wife arrived at the right time. Starting in 1839, the Ottoman Empire began its Tanzimat, which were focused on liberalizing the Muslim empire. These reforms included tax regulation, the outlaw of execution without trial, life and property rights, and instituting equal rights by abolishing the dhimmi status of non-Muslim subjects. These series of reforms continued through 1876.

Hamlin’s Seminary

Hamlin set about finding a location for his seminary. He had been sent to Constantinople to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, but he also wanted to educate the young men, specifically the minority Christians, and to assist them economically. Considering the conditions of the locals, he determined to build a workshop along with the seminary in order to help the Turks “earn enough to clothe [themselves] decently.”

“I have no record of how many quarters of Pera, Galata, St. Demetri, Scutari, Chalcedon, and both sides of the Bosphorus I visited,” Hamlin wrote of his search for a location. The missionary finally found a house in Bebek.

“November 4, 1840, I moved into the house, having had a few days to get it ready,” he wrote. “I think two scholars, Avedis and Toros, came the same day to the schoolroom, already prepared for twelve, the number we proposed to take the first year, if we could get them. And so Bebek Seminary began its career.”

A Seminary and … Bakery?

Hamlin maintained his position as director of Bebek Seminary for 20 years. During his time in Bebek, he witnessed many changes to the Ottoman Empire, especially because he worked only five miles outside of Constantinople. Most importantly, at least for Hamlin, the seminary thrived, as students flocked to the school. Not only was the house turned into a school, but it was also turned into a successful bakery.

Interestingly, it was not the Tanzimat reforms that offered him the opportunity to start his bakery, but rather one of the “capitulations” established by Mehmed the Conqueror in 1453, the year he conquered Constantinople. The “capitulation” stated that “every foreign colony settling at his capital should have the right to its own mill and bakery free from interference from the guilds.”

The ABCFM balked at Hamlin’s idea. Hamlin had admitted he didn’t know how to bake, nor did anyone who would be in his employ, specifically the Protestant Armenians. The ABCFM representatives called it a “desperate and fruitless effort” that would injure his reputation and “the reputation of the mission.” Hamlin, however, was unconcerned about his reputation. He was worried about the Protestant Armenians who were being persecuted by the Turks.

“We missionaries live in safety and comfort, they in poverty, contempt, and danger. I am going to do more than I have yet done to help them,” he told the AMCFM. “As to my reputation, let me fail in trying to do something rather than to sit still and do nothing. But I shall not fail.”

Indeed, he did not fail. As the wounded came pouring into Constantinople, both Nightingale and Hamlin found themselves very busy in the same location: Scutari. Hamlin was invited to the Military Hospital in Scutari by Dr. Henry Mapleton to discuss providing bread for the soldiers. Hamlin and Mapleton agreed to a contract of providing 250 pounds of bread per day that eventually grew to 6,000 pounds. While Florence Nightingale was nursing soldiers to health, Cyrus Hamlin was feeding them.

The fame of “Hamlin’s bread” quickly grew throughout the city. In fact, it was his bread that would lead to one of the most important and successful foreign education sites in American history.

An American Visitor

Christopher R. Robert was a New Yorker who made his fortune in New Orleans and Galena, Illinois, importing goods, like cotton, sugar, and tea. Robert was a devout Christian. He was an elder in his church and was its Sunday school superintendent for nearly 30 years. In 1828, he convinced the American Home Missionary Society (AHMS) to establish the first church in Northern Illinois.

During the Crimean War, Robert visited Constantinople. While there, he heard about Hamlin’s seminary and his bakery. Robert soon made Hamlin’s acquaintance. The two men discovered they both had similar philanthropic interests: providing education to the poor and spreading the gospel. This temporary breaking of bread together would result in a permanent working relationship a few years later.

On March 30, 1856, the Treaty of Paris was signed, bringing the Crimean War to an end. A few months later, Nightingale returned to England. Her statistical work, which demonstrated how many more soldiers died of disease than wounds, was studied extensively. In 1858, she became the first woman elected to the Royal Statistical Society. By that same year she had raised approximately 40,000 pounds (over $51,000) to launch the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas Hospital.

Hamlin remained in Constantinople, running the Bebek Seminary and baking bread.

About a year after the war ended, Robert was presented with a proposal to start a secular school in Constantinople. Those who presented the proposal were as convinced as Robert of the educational blight in the capital city. Robert, however, believed that the school should be religious. After failing to secure funding for the secular project, the group of men dropped the matter. Robert, however, was hooked on the idea, and he knew just the man for the job.

‘I Tremble at the Responsibility’

On Jan. 3, 1859, Robert wrote to Hamlin, stating, “It has occurred to me to ask confidentially whether, in view of the great importance of the institution referred to, it may not be your duty to take charge of it. I think thirty-five to forty thousand dollars can be secured for it with comparative ease, if you do, and I doubt if it can be without.”

Hamlin had a knack for timing. He had arrived in Constantinople just as the Tanzimat reforms were issued. He had begun his bakery in time to feed thousands of hungry soldiers. And now, after some ongoing disagreements with the ABCFM, he was presented an opportunity to pivot from his Bebek Seminary to start another school.

Hamlin was interested, and he believed, as did Robert, that the new school should be “a decided, thorough Christian school from its very commencement.” Accepting Robert’s offer was not easy for Hamlin, though the ABCFM’s decision to move Bebek Seminary from Bebek to Merzifon (later to become Anatolia College) made it easier. “I have, with feelings of deep solemnity and sorrow, written my request to be released from the service of the Board as soon as my place can be supplied,” Hamlin wrote to Robert in September of 1860. “I tremble at the responsibility I have assumed, but I trust that He who has upheld me through many trials and labors will not forsake me here.”

The Turkish government, however, made it difficult for Hamlin and Robert to purchase any land to erect a new school. Major changes in the government took place with the death of Sultan Abdulmecid in June 1861 and the accession of Abdulaziz. Robert and Hamlin had hoped to purchase land near Rumeli Castle. This hope was delayed for several years, so Hamlin bought an old wooden building in Bebek (only a few minutes from Rumeli Castle). It was a humble beginning. Despite Robert’s objections, Hamlin called the boys school Robert College.

Christopher Rhinelander Robert, the cofounder of Robert College, which still bears his name. Public Domain

A Lasting Legacy

It was during this week in history, on Sept. 16, 1863, that Robert College opened its doors to four students. It was the very first American educational institution ever established outside of the United States. It was incorporated by the State of New York in 1864. Hamlin remained president of the college until 1877. Robert continued to cover its financial deficits, which ranged from $10,000 and up, until his death in October 1878. A large portion of his estate was willed to the college. It is estimated that he provided upwards of $600,000 (more than $17 million today) for the school.

In 1870, Robert College moved to its new location near Rumeli Castle, which Robert visited. By this time, the school had more than 100 students. In 1871, the Home School opened, which later became the American College for Girls. The two schools merged under the name Robert College in 1971. The school remains in operation to this day with more than 1,000 students (with nearly 200 residential students) and remains accredited through the New York Association of Independent Schools. The school now resides on 65 acres along the Bosphorus Strait.

Gould Hall of Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey. Maestroka/CC BY-SA 3.0

Robert College maintains a reputation as one of the best schools in Turkey. Over its 160-year history, it’s boasted an alumni that includes “seven prime ministers, Olympians, notable academicians, and a Nobel Laureate among hundreds of others who are successful in their respective fields.”

According to the great 20th-century historian Dumas Malone, “The college which [Robert] founded has trained many of the builders of the Balkan and Near Eastern nations and remains one of the finest monuments of American philanthropy.”

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