Korps Pupillen te Gombong was the institution at Gombong in Central Java for the children of soldiers killed in action or pensioned, at which H. N. A. Swart served as instructor from 20 August 1891.
It was “one of those special institutions now already forgotten … intended for the reception of children of soldiers killed in action or pensioned, who could not be properly brought up at home”; almost exclusively children of men below officer rank were admitted. Some three to four hundred blue-clad pupillen were housed in three companies: the 1st for boys of fifteen to seventeen, the 2nd for twelve to fifteen, the 3rd for six to twelve, each with two lieutenants and the necessary cadre and a captain as corps commander. The boys attended primary school under supervision in normal school hours; the afternoon was given to sport, gymnastics and craft instruction, the last for those found unfit for military service at seventeen. Swart’s verdict was: “A really good institution; I have always regretted that it was abolished and that the boys were then distributed among the orphanages.” When a boy asked him whether he could become an officer, the lieutenants conferred and instituted a cursus for boys eligible for further education.
See Also
Source
Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter II.