A History of the
Royal Hospital
Chelsea 16822017
They Shall Not Grow Old, As Those That Are Left Grow Old:
Age Shall Not Weary Them, Nor The Years Condemn.
At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning
We Will Remember Them .
A History of the
Royal Hospital
Chelsea 16822017
The Warriors Repose
Stephen Wynn and Tanya Wynn
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by
Pen & Sword History
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Limited
Yorkshire Philadelphia
Copyright Stephen Wynn and Tanya Wynn, 2019
Hardback ISBN 978 1 52672 0 177
Paperback ISBN 978 1 52675 1 447
eISBN 978 1 52672 0 191
Mobi ISBN 978 1 52672 0 184
The right of Stephen Wynn and Tanya Wynn to be identified as Authors
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Introduction
T his book came about because of a visit that my wife and I made to the Royal Hospital Chelsea to speak with one of the in-pensioners in April 2017. It was my first experience of having the privilege of being at this great institution; as for my wife, it was a place she had visited a few times over the years, including the Chelsea Flower Show as a child. I found it an awe-inspiring place, a mixture of historic architecture, gardens and grounds.
We arrived in plenty of time for our meeting with one of the hospitals well-known residents on a lovely, sunny Spring morning, and as we were early we went for a coffee, sitting amongst many of the pensioners, who were talking to each other without an apparent care in the world.
As our visit was coming to an end, we bade our host goodbye and meandered through the hospitals cemetery on our way out. As we stood reading the names on the headstones of some of the great and good who had lived and died here over the centuries, my wife turned to me and smiled before uttering those immortal words, we should write a book about this place. The rest, as they say, is history.
The extensive history connected to the Royal Hospital makes it such an enjoyable subject to write about. There is a wealth of available information, it is more a case of what to leave out rather than what to include.
Writing about the Royal Hospital Chelsea means having to include so many people from different eras of history and so many levels of the social spectrum to tell the whole story of this historic and iconic military, medical facility. The journey begins with such luminaries as Henry VIII, before moving on to Charles II. Then it was the turn of Christopher Wren and a look at the hospitals numerous governors, many of whom had the added credentials of having had illustrious military careers, one of them a recipient of the highest British military award for valour, the Victoria Cross.
The First and Second World Wars saw the Royal Hospital a victim of German air raids, which resulted in many casualties, both dead and injured.
There have been numerous ex-soldiers who have been residents of the hospital over the centuries, both men and women clad in the famous scarlet coloured tunic. Dont dare be lax and refer to it as being red, at least not within earshot of one of the pensioners, or you will be politely corrected.
No book on the Royal Hospital Chelsea would be complete without including the story of Margaret Thatchers connection with this home for veterans, especially as the Infirmary has her name emblazoned above the doorway and her ashes were buried in the garden immediately outside at 11.30am on Saturday, 28 September 2013.
To finish the book by being as up to date as possible, we have taken a brief look at some of those who were either residents at the hospital, or who worked there in some capacity during the period of writing throughout 2017.
Hopefully, by the time you have finished this book you will have found it an enjoyable and interesting read, one that has given you an insight and a flavour of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and the numerous people who across the centuries have become part of its history and are forever woven into the very fabric of what this great institution is all about.
This book is dedicated to the memory of all those who have been residents at the hospital, as well as those who have worked there or been connected to it in some way.
Tanya and Stephen would like to thank all those who have helped them with the compilation of this book, with a special thanks to inpensioner Paul Whittick for his invaluable assistance and friendship.
Chapter 1
The Beginning
T he Royal Hospital Chelsea was the brainchild of King Charles II who founded it in 1682 as a retreat for injured veterans of his armies who had fought wars on his behalf. It is still going strong to this day as the home of the world-famous Chelsea Pensioners, where retired soldiers of the British Army are offered care and comradeship in their twilight years in recognition of their loyal service to the nation.
Prior to the building of the Royal Hospital, there was already a building, albeit an unfinished one, on the site. It was intended to be Chelsea College for theologians, the idea for which had come from King James I in 1609.
To understand the need for such a hospital, one has to look back to the Dissolution of the Monasteries that took place between 1536 and 1541 during the reign of King Henry VIII. At the time Henry was married to Catherine of Aragon, the first of his six wives, who was his queen from June 1509 until May 1533, but because she could not provide him with a son and heir, he tired of her. She had previously been married to Henrys elder brother, Arthur, the Prince of Wales and heir apparent. They had married in 1501 when she was just 16 years of age and Arthur was only 15, a marriage that by todays standards would not legally be permitted.
