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I always thought that Dartmouth was the British version of Westpoint. The British officer training school, but now in my googling it seems Google assumes I'm searching for the US university. I was wondering what the relationship with the two Dartmouths were?

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  • I realised after posting Dartmouth UK is more like Anapolis than Westpoint
    – Neil Meyer
    Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 11:29
  • Dartmouth UK is just a small town on the mouth of the river Dart. Dartmouth UK is like any small town at the end of a river.
    – E. Rei
    Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 15:45
  • I don't agree or appreciate the closing of this question without an explanation of why it has been closed. How am I or any future reader supposed to know what is wrong with it?
    – Neil Meyer
    Commented Jan 26, 2022 at 18:28

2 Answers 2

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There is no relationship. Dartmouth College (founded 1769) is named after William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, not after the Britannia Royal Navy College in Dartmouth (founded 1863).

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    Although it appears the title 'Earl of Dartmouth' refers to the same Dartmouth, Devon where the BRNC is located.
    – Anyon
    Commented Jan 23, 2022 at 18:04
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Lots of places in America are named after places in the UK. See the York that made the New York new. As I understand it was common for groups of colonists to name places in the 'New World' after places they came from.

Pretty much every place name in Britain seems to appear in the US somewhere. Dartmouth is a region of Devon, where I happen to live. Literally 'The mouth of the river Dart' which runs from Dartmoor through Paignton. With Devon having quite large ports nearby (Plymouth) and also being on that side of the country, it was a convenient place to launch colonial ships.

There are also Dartmouths in Australia and Canada. https://geotargit.com/called.php?qcity=Dartmouth

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  • There is also a New Plymouth in New Zealand.
    – Neil Meyer
    Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 11:33
  • Hartford, Litchfield, New London, ... , the list goes on in Connecticut.
    – Chris Leary
    Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 15:38
  • Yeah and there are 10 Exeters in the US. It's not an uncommon thing for US places to be named after UK ones. Not sure what the evidence is for it being named after the Earl of Dartmouth rather than the actual place called Dartmouth though.
    – E. Rei
    Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 15:43
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    On the evidence: This is explained in the Wikipedia articles I linked to in my answer. If you don't trust Wikipedia, see here, for example: britannica.com/topic/Dartmouth-College
    – Alex Kruckman
    Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 16:39
  • Of course the Encyclopedia Brittanica would point to a Englishman…
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Jan 24, 2022 at 18:32

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