Royal Hospital for Seamen
When William and Mary succeeded jointly to the British throne in 1688, war with Louis XIV of France was inevitable. A series of dramatic naval actions ended with Admiral Russell's convincing victory at La Hogue in 1692, and Mary pressed for the King's House to be completed as a naval hospital. She died before work could begin, but William was determined to honour her wishes.
Christopher Wren designed the Hospital and John Evelyn, the diarist, was appointed treasurer. On 30th June 1696, at precisely five in the evening, the two men laid the foundation stone. Over the next fifty years famous architects such as Vanbrugh, Hawksmoor, Campbell, Ripley and James "Athenian" Stuart completed Wren's grand design.
In 1706 the first 42 Pensioners arrived. Numbers grew steadily as the buildings became usable, rising to 2,710 in 1814.
Although they slept on beds instead of hammocks, their diet (based on bread, beer and boiled meat) would have reminded them of their days at sea. They took meals in the undercrofts below the Painted Hall and Chapel and were allowed to smoke their clay pipes or 'chalks' in the Chalk Walk, now the Skittle Alley. The Pensioners were given pocket money of 1s (5p) a week, which many of them supplemented by acting as guides for the many visitors to Greenwich and even as caddies at Blackheath Golf Club.
Towards the end of the 19th century Pensioner numbers declined. One reason was that 'Britain ruled the waves' in the Victorian era - a period of long naval peace and relatively few casualties to fill Hospital spaces. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, a system of Greenwich 'out-pensioners' began in 1763 was more popular and eventually took over. This allowed sailors to live with their families rather than separating them to live in the Hospital. This led to the closure of the Hospital in the 1860s.
