The Duke of York's Royal Military School, more commonly known as the Duke of York's, is a co-educational academy (for students aged 11 to 18)[2] with military traditions in
Guston, Kent.[3] Since becoming an academy in 2010, the school is now sponsored by the
Ministry of Defence, and accepts applications from any student wishing to board. Before 2010, only those students whose parents were serving or had served in the armed forces were eligible.[4]
With the transition to
academy status, the school became a
state boarding school (it is a member of the State Boarding Forum and Boarding Schools Association). During this time, oversight transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the
Department for Education.[5]
The Duke of York's is steeped in military traditions and history, resulting in practices that include ceremonial parades and uniforms.[6] It has a
monitorial style of education modelled on the
English public school system.[7]
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.[8] The school was co-educational; this 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.[9] Today, the Chelsea site is home to the
Saatchi Gallery.
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, whereupon 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.[11]
One of the more notable Commandants of the Royal Military Asylum was Major General
Peter Brown. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars,[12] Brown was unusual in that he was promoted while he was in the post[13][14] (from colonel to major general), which was highly unusual given the post was not an active command and his predecessors and successors were never promoted in post.
Many of the school's pupils carried out acts of gallantry in the wars that the British Army was involved. One such individual was
John Shaul. Shaul was awarded the
Victoria Cross for extraordinary bravery in the Boer War.[15]
In 1892, the Royal Military Asylum was renamed The Duke of York's Royal Military School and ultimately became an all-boys school. In 1909, the school relocated to a new location constructed 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, while finally returning to Dover in 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.[16][17]
Academic ratings
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 passes at A2 level.[18]
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:[20]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's
verifiability policy. Please
improve this article by removing names that do not have independent
reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate
citations.(August 2021)
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.[21]
Ramon Tikaram, stage and screen actor who shot to fame in BBC2 drama
This Life, where he played a bi-sexual, Mexican bike courier called Ferdie.[22]
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.[23][24]
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.[25]
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]
Detective Inspector D.H.C. Nixon,
Metropolitan Police, subject of the novel Nick of the River by Anthony Richardson and the accompanying television series.[28]
Lieutenant Peter Cartwright,
Royal Scots Fusiliers,
Special Air Service, died trying to save three comrades from drowning on training exercise during the
Malayan Emergency. Despite pressure he was never awarded a posthumous gallantry medal.[29]
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.[30]
William Henry Debroy Somers, inter-war composer, lyricist, blues and jazz musician who formed the Savoy Hotel Orpheans, performed on
Radio Luxembourg and Radio Normandy, and performed in the Horlicks Show to rival the Ovaltineys
[1], as well as performing in the
Royal Variety Performance.[31]
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.[32]
Lieutenant George William Hanna, MM, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, infantryman in the Boer War and World War I.[33]
Henry Lazarus, the premier British clarinet virtuoso of the nineteenth century and professor of the Royal Academy of Music[citation needed]
Thomas Sullivan, professor of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall and father of the composer Sir
Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert and Sullivan fame[34]
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[35]
Ann Vanpine, mill worker turned teacher to the benefit of her community and testament to the spirit of service encouraged at the Duke of York's; moreover 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, making her accomplishments the more remarkable.[36]
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]
George Ridgwell, stage performer and minor composer/lyricist, later pioneer silent film-maker including the first Sherlock Holmes shorts[citation needed]
Lance Corporal Paul Lightfoot, Royal Corps of Signals,[37] who was killed during the Falklands Campaign on 1 May 1982 while serving with 264 (SAS) Signal Squadron.
Notable masters
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]
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.[38]
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]
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]
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.[39]
Major General Lloyd Howell, CBE, Director of Army Education 1976–80, Headmaster [and commandant] 1967–72.[citation needed]
Dukies' Corner in Guston Churchyard
Some pupils of the school are buried in the churchyard of St Martin of Tours church in the nearby village of Guston.[40]