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) with military traditions in Guston, Kent. 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. 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. The Duke of York's is steeped in military traditions and history, resulting in practices that include ceremonial parades and uniforms. It has a monitorial style of education modelled on the English public school system. Notable alumni include senior generals (e.g. Sir Archibald Nye, Gary Coward and David Mark Cullen), musicians (Henry Lazarus), athletes (Maurice Colclough), scientists (e.g. Professors Paul Shaw, Timothy Foster, Kevin Allmark and Mark Gardiner) and clergymen (James Jones and Bill Ind). History Founded in 1803 by act of Royal Warrant dating from 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. 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. 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. In 1812, three African youths attended the school as teachers by 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. 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