The warrant appointing the Commissioners for the
management of the institution is dated June 24th, 1801
The total original cost of the ground and building was no
more than £104,187; the value of the ground is probably
now at least ten times as great as it was at the
beginning of the century. Not without some difficulties
and disputes was the building erected; for the builders
presented a bill far in excess of the original
estimates-- as builders often do. A committee was
appointed by the Commissioners to inquire into the causes
of the increase, and ultimately everything was
satisfactorily explained.
At first, the institution was intended both for
boys and girls, and both were admitted freely; but it
is long since the Asylum has been reserved for boys
only. As stated in the original regulations, the
institution was intended for, "1st",
Orphans. 2nd, those whose fathers have been killed on
foreign service. 3rd. those who have lost their
mothers, and whose fathers are absent on duty abroad;
and 4th, those whose fathers are ordered on foreign
service, or whose parents have other children to
maintain. These regulations have since been extended
to admit the children of pensioners of long service
and good conduct. Children, according to the original
regulations were admitted at " the earliest age
for nurture, and into the Asylum from four years till
twelve years, being discharged at fourteen years.
Those who enter after eleven have to pass an
examination in arithmetic and dictation. The total
number of boys who can at present be admitted is 484,
a great many less than the 1,000 which the original
Commissioners proposed to lodge in the same building.
This decrease in the original estimate is, no doubt,
dictated by modern sanitary regulations; for it is
said that in the early days of the institution two
boys used to sleep in each bed.
Part of the south wing of the Royal Military
Asylum contained up till quite recently the Normal
School for training army schoolmasters. In December
last year, however, this institution was abolished,
and further accommodation is thus set free for the
use of the Duke of York's School. The additional
rooms will accommodate sixty-six more boys and it is
hoped that the establishment will thus shortly be
raised to 550.
There are always plenty of applicants for
admission to the Royal Military Asylum, and as
vacancies occur the boys are admitted according to
the urgency of their respective cases. Orphans are
taken first; then those who have lost their fathers.
Next, those who have lost their mothers, and so on.
As the Royal Military Asylum is intended primarily as
a school to train boys for the army, a medical
certificate is demanded with each applicant, and no
boy is admitted unless it is testified by a surgeon
that he " is free from any mental or bodily
infirmity, not ruptured, and is likely to become fit
for the Army. It is not, however, compulsory upon
boys of the Duke of York's School to enter the Army.
When applying for admission of a boy, the parent or
guardian " agrees that the said boy shall remain
in the Asylum as long as the Commissioners thereof
shall think see fit, within the prescribed limit of
age; and that when of proper age he shall be placed,
with his own free consent, as a private soldier in
the Regular Army, or shall be provided for at the
discretion of the Commissioners as an apprentice or
servant." It is thus optional for any boy, when
he reaches the age of fourteen, to become either a
soldier or a civilian, but at least eighty percent of
the boys elect to enter the Army.
|