Duke of York's Royal Military School

Founded in 1803 by royal warrant in 1801, the school was called the Royal Military Asylum until 1892. The school's primary purpose was to educate the orphans of British servicemen killed in the Napoleonic Wars of 1793–1815. Between 1803-1909 the Royal Military Asylum was located at what is now known as the Duke of York's Headquarters in Chelsea, London.{{cite web|title=Schooling |url=http://www.archhistory.co.uk/taca/schooling.html |work=The Army Children Archive |access-date=2 April 2011}} The school was co-educational; which makes the Duke of York's the second co-educational boarding school in the United Kingdom. The first co-educational institution was the Royal Hibernian Military School in Dublin which was relocated and merged with Duke of York's after Ireland declared independence.{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Howard R. |title=A New History of the Royal Hibernian Military School |year=2011 |publisher=Howard R. Clarke |isbn=978-0-9567864-0-1 |pages=24–172}} Today, the Chelsea site is home to the Saatchi Gallery.

The school adopted the "Madras system of education" developed by Dr. Andrew Bell, to which Joseph Lancaster made certain improvements.{{cite book |last1=Hurl-Eamon |first1=Jennine |title=Childhood and War in Eighteenth-Century Britain |date=2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0198917205 |page=92 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/59243 |access-date=17 April 2025|quote=By 1805, the Duke of York had shifted the Chelsea Asylum to the Bell system ... Within a few short years of adopting Bell’s model within its own walls, Chelsea's Royal Military Asylum was training teachers in the Bell system. Its records demonstrate that this was happening as early as 1812}}

In 1812, three African youths attended the school as teachers at the invitation of the Duke of Gloucester. They were then sent by the African Institution to Sierra Leone where they were employed as teachers by the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, the Earl of Liverpool.{{cite book |title=Third Report of the African Institution |date=1807 |publisher=African Institution |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/reportcommittee09englgoog |access-date=20 July 2016}}

File:SaatchiGallery.jpg

Between 1816-1840, the Asylum had a branch in Southampton which provided schooling for up to 400 military orphans and children serving soldiers of both sexes until 1823, after which the boys were transferred to Chelsea with the girls going to Southampton. A decline in the school numbers resulted in its closure in 1840. Starting in 1841, the building were taken over by the Ordnance Survey.{{cite book |last=Coles |first=R. J. |title=Southampton's Historic Buildings |year=1981 |publisher=City of Southampton Society |pages=22–23}}

Major General Peter Brown, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, served as Commandant of the Royal Military Asylum.{{cite web |title=OIL PORTRAIT MAJOR GENERAL PETER BROWN |url=http://www.jbmilitaryantiques.com.au/product/british-army-general-service-medal-oil-portrait-major-general-peter-brown/ |website=www.jbmilitaryantiques.com.au |access-date=1 November 2018}} Brown's promotion from colonel to major general occurred while an incumbent Commandant,{{cite web |title=The Army List for July, 1844 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BO8NAAAAQAAJ&q=Major+General+Peter+Brown+Royal+Military+Asylum&pg=RA2-PA54 |access-date=1 November 2018 |language=en |date=1844}}{{cite web |title=The London Gazette 1851 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/21264/page/3019/data.pdf |access-date=1 November 2018}} a development that possibly could be seen as a break given that it was non-active command and it lacked precedence.

Many of the school's pupils performed acts of gallantry in the wars in which the British Army was involved. One such individual was John Shaul, who in the Boer War individuated himself for his bravery and was awarded the Victoria Cross.{{cite web |title=John D F Shaul VC – victoriacross |url=http://www.vconline.org.uk/john-d-f-shaul-vc/4588198639 |website=www.vconline.org.uk |access-date=11 May 2020}}

It was in 1892 that the Royal Military Asylum was renamed as "The Duke of York's Royal Military School" and ultimately became an all-boys school. In 1909, the school relocated to a new siting on the cliffs above Dover in Kent. For the duration of World War I (1914–1918), the school was evacuated to Hutton, near Brentwood, Essex. This provided the military authorities with a transit point in Dover for troops moved to and from the Western Front. In 1940, the school was evacuated to the Saunton Sands Hotel, Braunton, North Devon. It finally returned to Dover by 1946.

In 1994, the school re-admitted girls and returned to co-education.

The school's first civilian students were accepted in 2010 after the school was granted academy status.{{cite news |date=9 April 2013 |title=Emergency Ofsted probe for Duke of York's Military School |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-22077130 |access-date=27 August 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Sophie |date=2011 |title=Duke Of York's Royal Military School: Inspection report for Boarding School |url=https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/1562501 |access-date=27 August 2020 |publisher=Ofsted}}

Between 2007-2009, more than 90% of the pupils gained 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C (including English and Mathematics). More than 13% of grades were A*/A during the same period.

During this period (2007–2009), 19% of grades gained were A/B at AS level and 12% of grades were A/B at A2 level. A total of 32% of grades gained were passed at A2 level.{{cite web |url=http://www.doyrms.com/open/examresults.html |title=Examination Results 2007/2008 – Summary |work=Duke of York's Royal Military School |access-date=13 May 2010 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710024007/http://www.doyrms.com/open/examresults.html |archive-date=10 July 2009 |df=dmy }}

The Duke of York's runs student exchange programmes with military schools within the umbrella of NATO.The exchange programme with the Lycée Militaire, in Aix-en-Provence, its French equivalent is a case in point. The Duke of York's has also connections with some USA military academies, e.g. the Missouri Military Academy, or the Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Wayne, Pennsylvania, but also with further afar as the Faujdarhat Cadet College, in Chittagong, Bangladesh.{{cite web |title=Bringing the world into the classroom – Army&You |url=http://armyandyou.co.uk/bringing-world-classroom/ |website=Army&You |access-date=27 October 2018 |date=11 September 2017}} Placements for recent school leavers from respective military schools to assume assistant teaching posts at corresponding schools are also within the academy's purview.

The school is currently divided into twelve Houses, nine of which are named after famous British generals, one after a famous admiral of the Royal Navy, and another after a famous marshal of the Royal Air Force:{{cite web|title=Boarding – The Duke of York's Royal Military School|url=http://www.doyrms.com/Boarding-Life|website=www.doyrms.com|access-date=6 June 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620082507/http://www.doyrms.com/Boarding-Life|archive-date=20 June 2017|url-status=dead}}

• Nelson
• Trenchard

• Haig
• Kitchener
• Roberts
• Wolseley
• Wellington
• Clive
• Wolfe
• Marlborough
• Alanbrooke

• Centenary House (opened in September 2010)

{{See also|Category:People educated at the Duke of York's Royal Military School}}

{{alumni|date=August 2021}}

• Lieutenant-General Sir Gary Coward ret'd, CB, KBE, beginning his career in the Royal Artillery before transferring to the Army Air Corps, Coward was Quarter-Master General of the British Armed Forces, formerly Chief of Staff of the Permanent Joint Headquarters and before that General Officer Commanding United Kingdom Joint Helicopter Command. Coward is decorated with the Order of the Bath and the Order of the British Empire.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Major General David Mark Cullen ret'd CB, OBE was a senior British Army officer. He served as the Assistant Chief of the General Staff from 2013 to 2015.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/505519/Army_Sep_15_senior_data.csv/preview|title=Land Forces senior, as of September 2015 – GOV.UK}}
• Professor Mark Radford CBE, the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer of England {{cite web | url=https://www.england.nhs.uk/author/professor-mark-radford/ | title=NHS England » Professor Mark Radford, BSC (Hons) RGN, PGDip (ANP), MA (Med Ed), PHD, FHEA, DSC (Hon) | date=19 February 2019 }} and National Director of Education and Training of the NHS. He is also a Professor of Nursing at Birmingham City University where he was Alumni of the year in 2022 {{cite web | url=https://www.hee.nhs.uk/news-blogs-events/news/health-education-england-chief-nurse-honoured-alumni-award | title=Health Education England Chief Nurse honoured with alumni award | date=27 June 2022 }} He was awarded a CBE in the 2022 New Years honours list for services to Nursing and the NHS Covid response.
• Ramon Tikaram, stage and screen actor who was in BBC2 drama This Life.{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/interview-ramon-tikaram--the-mane-man-1257234.html |title=Interview: Ramon Tikaram – The mane man |first=Emma |last=Cook |date=21 June 1997 |work=The Independent |access-date=12 December 2015}}
• Maurice Colclough, rugby player for the England national rugby union team and British and Irish Lions.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Judge Keith Raynor, a former Vice President of The Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) in The Hague who was also appointed to the roster of international judges at the Chambers.https://www.judiciary.uk/announcements/appointment-of-his-honour-judge-keith-raynor-to-the-kosovo-specialist-chambers/ {{dead link|date=February 2022}}http://www.doyrms.com/MainFolder/Parent-Bulletin-25-May-2018.pdf {{dead link|date=February 2022}}
• Lieutenant-Colonel Nigel Wylde, QGM, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Intelligence Corps, former-bomb disposal expert and intelligence operative decorated for gallantry who has cast doubt on the legitimacy of the state's moral conduct in anti-terrorist campaigns from the 1970s to the present day. Wylde has appeared as an expert witness to the Barron Inquiry on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974.{{cite web |url=http://www.achart.ca/articles/york/wylde.htm |title=Guilty until proven innocent |work=Achart.ca |access-date=12 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110530114932/http://www.achart.ca/articles/york/wylde.htm |archive-date=30 May 2011}}
• Sir James Stuart Jones, British Anglican clergyman and former Bishop of Liverpool.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/feb/08/gayrights.religion|title = The Guardian profile: The Right Rev James Jones|website = TheGuardian.com|date = 8 February 2008}}
• Bill Ind, British Anglican clergyman and formerly Bishop of Truro.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Professor Arthur Buller, ERD, FRCP, Professor of Physiology, University of Bristol, 1965–1982, Emeritus Professor, since 1982; Chief Scientist, Department of Health and Social Security, 1978–81, and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians{{cite web |url=http://www.achart.ca/articles/york/foster.htm |title=A Dukie seeks to prevent MRSA |work=Achart.ca |access-date=25 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514182741/http://www.achart.ca/articles/york/foster.htm |archive-date=14 May 2012}}
• Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Nye, GCSI, GCIE, KCB, KBE, MC, Vice-Chief of the Imperial General Staff as well as being involved in Operation Mincemeat, Governor of Madras in 1946, UK High Commissioner in Delhi from 1948 to 1952, High Commissioner to Canada from 1952 to 1956, chairman of the Nye Committee.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Colonel W.A.T. Bowly, CVO, CBE, MC, President of the DYRMS Old Boy's Association 1937–1945, as well as being Headmaster of the DYRMS during World War II, recipient of the Royal Victorian Order, the Order of the British Empire and decorated for gallantry in combat during World War I.{{cite web|url=http://www.richardgilbert.ca/achart/public_html/articles/york/general_nye.htm |title=Archibald Edward Nye (1895–1967) |work=Achart.ca |access-date=12 December 2015}}
• Group Captain George Gardiner, DSO, DFC, Légion d'honneur, Croix de Guerre, Croix de Chevalier, Royal Irish Regiment, Queen's Lancers, Royal Flying Corps, Royal Air Force, fighter ace in World War I.{{cite web |url=http://www.achart.ca/articles/york/george_gardiner.htm |title=George Cecil Gardiner DSO, DFC |work=Achart.ca |access-date=12 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530134851/http://www.achart.ca/articles/york/george_gardiner.htm |archive-date=30 May 2012}}
• Lieutenant George William Hanna, MM, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, infantryman in the Boer War and World War I.{{cite web |url=http://www.achart.ca/york/hanna.htm |title=Lieutenant George William Hanna, MM |work=Achart.ca |access-date=12 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022034734/http://www.achart.ca/york/hanna.htm |archive-date=22 October 2007}}
• Henry Lazarus, clarinet virtuoso of the nineteenth century and professor of the Royal Academy of Music{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Roger Tomlinson, master of British military music, who ended his career in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as Senior Director of Music of the British Army{{cite web|url=http://www.safemusic.co.uk/13036/roger-tomlinson|title=Roger Tomlinson |work=safemusic.co.uk|access-date=5 May 2017}}
• Alfred James Phasey, a star musician during the Victorian age, including playing with the Philharmonic Society of London (progenitor of the Royal Philharmonic Society, professor of the Royal Army College of Music.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Ann Vanpine, mill worker turned teacher. Vanpine was a pupil in the earliest years of the school (1821–1825) and in a time of extremely limited opportunities for orphans but especially women.{{cite web |url=http://www.richardgilbert.ca/achart/public_html/articles/york/vanpine.htm |title=Anne Vanpine, apprentice cotton spinner from the Southampton Branch |work=Achart.ca |access-date=12 December 2015}}
• John Francis David Shaul, recipient of the Victoria Cross as a Corporal of the Highland Light Infantry at the Battle of Magersfontein, 11 December 1899. Corporal Shaul's bravery and humane conduct were so conspicuous that, not only was he noticed by his own officer, but even those of other regiments remarked upon it. Corporal Shaul was in charge of stretcher bearers and was most conspicuous in dressing the wounds of the injured. He was born in King's Lynn on 11 September 1873. He received his VC from the Duke of York at Pietermaritzburg on 14 August 1901.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Mat Gilbert, Bath Rugby, Llanelli Scarlets and England Deaf Rugby player.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Peter Birch, Actor. Roles have included Herr Ulrich in Auf Wiedersehen Pet, consultant Jack Hathaway in Casualty and Arthur Eliott in The House of Eliott.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

• Regimental Sergeant Major Lincoln Perkins, British Empire Medal, Grenadier Guards, RSM at the Duke of York's Royal Military School 1979–2006, extensive career including Britain's East of Suez conflicts and service in the Royal Household. RSM Perkins, was one of the pallbearers to carry Sir Winston Churchill, in the funeral procession in 1965.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Mr C.H. Connell, Head of English at DYRMS post World War II in the 1940s to late 1970s. Operative in the Special Operations Executive during World War II, Connell was also an author with at least seventeen novels and books published, plus a number of plays.{{cite web|url=http://www.richardgilbert.ca/achart/public_html/articles/york/staffbiosa-m.htm |title=Dictionary of staff bios A to M |work=Achart.ca |access-date=12 December 2015}}
• Colonel W.A.T. Bowly, CVO, CBE, MC, Headmaster of the DYRMS during World War II, as well as being President of the DYRMS Old Boy's Association 1937–1945, recipient of the Royal Victorian Order, the Order of the British Empire and decorated for gallantry in combat during World War I.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Lieutenant-Colonel S.G. Simpson, OBE, Headmaster of the Duke of York's Royal Military School 1922–1927, recipient of the Order of the British Empire, graduate of the universities of Cambridge, Lille, Paris and Heidelberg.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Priestley, CMG, Medical Officer at the Duke of York's Royal Military School 1919–1922, recipient of the Order of St Michael and St George.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Brigadier-General George Colborne Nugent, Irish Guards, Commandant of the Duke of York's Royal Military School 1913–1914, commanded the 5th London Brigade in World War I and was killed in action on 31 May 1915.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
• Captain William Siborne, Adjutant of the Royal Military Asylum from 1843 to 1849, having previously demonstrated that the Duke of Wellington's account of his victory at the Battle of Waterloo was erroneous, and was in fact due in considerable part to Prussian assistance.{{cite web|url=http://www.richardgilbert.ca/achart/public_html/articles/york/siborne.html |title=Captain W. Siborne, Adjutant of the RMA (1843–1849) |work=Achart.ca |access-date=12 December 2015}}
• Major General Lloyd Howell, CBE, Director of Army Education 1976–80, Headmaster [and commandant] 1967–72.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Some pupils of the school are buried in the churchyard of St Martin of Tours church in the nearby village of Guston.{{cite web|title=Duke of Yorks – Guston|url=http://www.richardgilbert.ca/achart/public_html/articles/york/guston.htm|website=www.richardgilbert.ca|access-date=6 June 2017}}

• The Royal Hospital School
• Queen Victoria School
• Gordon's School
• Association of Harrogate Apprentices

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.doyrms.com/ Duke of York's Royal Military School]
• [http://www.achart.ca/ Duke of York's Royal Military School Historical Archives]
• [http://www.dyrmsoba.info/ Duke of York's Royal Military School Old Boys Association] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710052631/http://www.dyrmsoba.info/ |date=10 July 2009 }}
• [http://www.dyrms.net/ List of Duke of York's Old Boys & Girls on the Internet]

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{{Schools in Kent}}

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Category:Educational institutions established in 1803

Category:Schools in Dover, Kent

Category:Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

Category:1803 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Academies in Kent

Category:Boarding schools in Kent

Category:Secondary schools in Kent

Category:Military schools in the United Kingdom