Initiated by Sir Robert Clayton who had read about the French schools of navigation. He persuaded King Charles II to support the UK equivalent as part of Christ's Hospital. "Samuel Pepys in the Admiralty continued to be closely associated with the Royal Mathematical School throughout the rest of the century, alongside key figures such as Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Jonas Moore at the Tower of London, and John Flamsteed, astronomer at the newly built Royal Greenwich Observatory, who gave lessons in astronomy to some of the boys. Even Isaac Newton became involved, when in 1694 he suggested a revised syllabus which was used for a short time. In 1698 two qualified boys were selected by Peter the Great to assist with the teaching in a new school of Mathematics and Navigation in Moscow."
Information from the School's website, which also supplied our image: designed by Robert Hooke, this is a silver-plated badge for the pupils to wear on the left shoulder of the uniform bluecoat.
