Chelsea
Hospital was founded by Charles II in 1682 as an asylum for wounded
and superannuated soldiers. Sir
Christopher Wren designed the buildings. In the Regency period the
resident pensioners were housed in sixteen wards, and were allocated
each day one pound of meat, one loaf of bread of twelve ounces, one
quarter a pound of cheese, and to quarts of beer - except on Wednesdays
and Fridays, when they received no meat, which was replaced with one
pint of pea soup and an extra ration of bread and cheese. They also
received a weekly pay packet according to rank. See also Greenwich
Hospital for a similar institution for sailors, and Chelsea's Royal
Military Asylum which was a school for the children of soldiers
and closely associated with the Royal Hospital.
