Children of the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, 1812

Aquatint by J C Stadler after Charles Hamilton Smith, 1812.

Founded in 1803 by act of Royal Warrant dating from 1801, the Royal Military Asylum aimed to educate the orphans of British servicemen killed in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815). In 1892 it was renamed The Duke of York's Royal Military School and in 1909 it was relocated to Dover, where it continues to this day.

From Charles Hamilton Smith's 'Costumes of the Army of the British Empire, according to the last regulations 1812', published by Colnaghi and Company, 1812-1815.