First Twelve
The military events at the turn of the nineteenth century gave impetus to the establishment of gymnastic training for military men in many countries. Nachtegall in Denmark and Ling in Sweden found support for their programs from army circles. The English followed a similar pattern in 1822 when they invited Clias to establish gymnastic training for the military services. He was given the rank of captain and made superintendent of physical training in the royal military and naval academies. Following an injury, he retired in 1825 and returned to Switzerland. Clias stimulated a brief interest in gymnastics in London which was carried on by several others. Karl Volker operated a Turnpaltz and was involved in the founding of the London Gymnastic Society. Gustavus Hamilton and Signor Voarino promoted various exercises for girls and women, and both men wrote books.
About the middle of the nineteenth century, interest in gymnastics was revived when Archibald MacLaren, who had been operating a fencing school, opened a private gymnasium in Oxford in 1858. Two years later the army asked him to revise its physical training program. he trained a group of noncommissioned officers sent to him. After finishing their course, these young men returned to a new gymnasium at Aldershot and created a normal school to train other military teachers of gymnastics. In this manner, MacLaren's system was introduced and carried out in the army. The Scotsman also urged that physical education should become a regular part of the school curriculum. Moreover, he argued, if the soldiers and school boys of England could benefit by regular gymnastic exercises, so too could the men in the factories and shops. Despite MacLaren's efforts on behalf of physical education, the schools and the army eventually turned to the Swedish system created by Ling.