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 school-masters. 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.