CHAPTER XIV.
GREENWICH (continued).—THE HOSPITAL FOR SEAMEN, &c.
"Go, with old Thames, view Chelsea's glorious pile,
And ask the shattered hero whence his smile?
Go view the splendid domes of Greenwich—go,
And own what raptures from reflection flow."
S. Rogers, "Pleasures of Memory."
Greenwich Hospital as a Monument to Queen Mary, and of the Victory of La Hogue—Appointment of the Commissioners by William III.—Sir
Christopher Wren's Share in the Building—John Evelyn as Treasurer—Description of the Building—Memorials of Joseph René Bellot, and
the Officers who fell in the Indian Mutiny—The Chapel—The Painted Hall—Nelson's Funeral Car—The Nelson Room—The Hospital—Sources of its Revenue—The Old Pensioners and their Accommodation—The Royal Naval College—The Naval Museum—The Nelson and
other Relics—The Infirmary for the Pensioners—The Seamen's Hospital—The Dreadnought—The Royal Naval School—Officers connected
with Greenwich Hospital since its establishment—Fund for Disabled Seamen.
The reader will not have forgotten the account
which Macaulay gives of the causes which led to
the foundation of Greenwich Hospital, immediately
after the death of Queen Mary, the Consort of
William III. "The affection with which her
husband cherished her memory," he writes, "was
soon attested by a monument, the most superb
that was ever erected to any sovereign. No
scheme had been so much her own, none had
been so near her heart, as that of converting the
palace into a retreat for seamen. It had occurred
to her when she had found it difficult to provide
good shelter and good attendance for the thousands
of brave men who had come back to England
wounded after the battle of La Hogue. Whilst
she lived, scarcely any step was taken towards the
accomplishment of her favourite design; but it
should seem that, as soon as her husband had lost
her, he began to reproach himself for having
neglected her wishes. No time was now lost. A
plan was furnished by Wren, and soon an edifice,
surpassing that asylum which the magnificent Louis
had provided for his soldiers, rose on the margin of
the Thames. Whoever reads the inscription which
runs round the frieze of the hall will observe that
King William claims no part of the merit of the
design, and that the praise is ascribed to Mary
alone. Had the king's life been prolonged, a
statue of her who was the real foundress of the
institution would have had a conspicuous place in
that court which presents two lofty domes and two
graceful colonnades to the multitudes who are perpetually passing up and down the imperial river.
But that part of the plan was never carried into
effect; a few of those who now gaze on the noblest
of European hospitals are aware that it is a memorial of the virtues of the good Queen Mary, of the
love and sorrow of William, and of the great victory
of La Hogue."
This magnificent structure, which is considered
the finest specimen of classical architecture in this
or almost any other country, occupies the site of
the old royal palace, on the southern bank of the
Thames, between that river and Greenwich Park.
It was established, as before stated, in the reign
of William and Mary, who, "for the encouragement of seamen and the improvement of navigation," by their letters patent, dated October 25th,
1694, granted to Sir John Somers, Knight, Keeper
of the Great Seal; Thomas, Duke of Leeds;
Thomas, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery;
Charles, Duke of Shrewsbury; Sidney, Lord
Godolphin; and others—" all that piece or parcell
of ground situate, lying, and being within the
Parish of East Greenwich, and being parcell or
reputed parcell of our Mannor of East Greenwich
aforesaid, containing in the whole, by admeasurement, eight acres, two roods, and thirty-two square
perches; and all that capital messuage lately built,
or in building, by our royall uncle, King Charles II.,
and still remaining unfinished, commonly called by
the name of our Palace at Greenwich, standing
upon the piece or parcell of ground aforesaid; and
those edifices and tofts called the chapel and
vestry there;" and other tenements, to erect and
found a hospital " for the reliefe and support of
seamen serving on board the shipps or vessells
belonging to the Navy Royall of us, our heires, or
successors; or imploy'd in our or their service at
sea; who, by reason of age, wounds, or other disabilities, shall be incapable of further service at sea,
and be unable to maintain themselves; and also
for the sustentation of the widows, and maintenance
and education of the children of seamen happening to be slaine or disabled in such sea service."
Queen Mary, who, as we have shown, was the first
projector of this charitable institution, died on the
28th of December, 1694, two months after the grant
was made for carrying her wishes into effect.
In March of the following year, the king appointed nearly two hundred commissioners; including George, Prince of Denmark; the principal
Officers of State; the Archbishops, Bishops, Judges,
the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London; and
the Masters, Wardens, &c., of the Trinity House.
John Evelyn gives us, in his "Diary," an accurate
account of the successive steps taken by himself
and his brother commissioners in establishing the
hospital, of which he was appointed treasurer.
The first meeting of the commissioners was held
at the Guildhall, May 5th, 1695, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, Lord Godolphin, the Duke of
Shrewsbury, and Sir Christopher Wren, and others
being present. In the course of that month several
other meetings were held, at which Evelyn, Wren,
and two other commissioners, having gone to
Greenwich to survey the place, made a report to
the effect that "the standing part (of the palace)
might be made serviceable at present for £6,000,"
and what extent of ground would be requisite in
order to complete the design. The draft of the
hospital was settled in the following April, and
the first stone of the new edifice laid on the 30th
of June, by Evelyn himself, supported by Wren
and Flamsteed, "the king's astronomical professor."
Evelyn records even the exact hour at which the
ceremony took place: "Precisely at five o'clock
in the evening, after we had dined together; Mr.
Flamsteed observing the punctual time by instruments." Evelyn's salary, as treasurer, was £200,
much of the work being done by his son-in-law
Draper, as his deputy, though the works as they
progressed kept him at Saye's Court, away from his
beloved Wotton, during the entire summer. Draper,
we may add, succeeded Evelyn in the treasurership. The subscriptions received during the first
twelve months towards the hospital amounted, according to Evelyn, to upwards of £9,000, including
£2,000 from the king, and £500 apiece from
nearly all the leading statesmen. According to a
note by the treasurer, four months after the
foundation, the work done amounted to upwards
of £5,000, towards which the treasurer had received only £800, there being among the defaulters
the king's £2,000, paid by exchequer tallies on
the Post Office, "which," says he, "nobody will
take at 30 per cent. discount," a statement
which, if true, does not redound to King Charles's
credit. Part of the expense of the erection of the
structure was raised by state lotteries. Evelyn
writes, in his "Diary" for May, 1699: "All lotteries,
till now cheating the people, to be no longer permitted than to Christmas, except that for the
benefit of Greenwich Hospital." From an entry
which he makes in his "Diary" in January, 1705,
it appears that the building was so far advanced
that the committee had already admitted some
pensioners: "I went to Greenwich Hospital, where
they now begin to take in wounded and worn-out
seamen, who are exceedingly well provided for."
He adds, more suo, "The buildings now going on
are very magnificent." In a note in Evelyn's
"Diary" is published his debtor and creditor account for the erection of the hospital. The total
of subscriptions, &c., seems to have been £69,320,
exclusive of the produce of lottery tickets, £11,434,
and malt tickets, £1,000; but the exact meaning
of this last item is not very clear.
The hospital is elevated on a terrace upwards
of 280 yards in length, and in its completed form
consists of four distinct blocks of building. The
two blocks nearest the river, known respectively as
King Charles's and Queen Anne's Buildings, stand
on either side of the "Great Square," 570 feet
in width. The two blocks south of them, King
William's and Queen Mary's Buildings, are brought
nearer to each other by the width of the colonnades; and the cupolas at the inner angles form a
fine central feature, and impart unity to the general
composition. The view from the north gate, in the
centre of the terrace, is very striking. Beyond the
square are seen the hall and chapel, with their
finely-proportioned cupolas and gilt vanes, and the
two colonnades, which form a kind of avenue terminated by the Royal Naval School, above which,
on an eminence in the park, appears the Royal
Observatory.
In the centre of the great square is a statue of
George III. It was the gift of Admiral Sir John
Jennings, who was governor of the hospital
in the reign of that king. It was sculptured by
Rysbrach, out of a single block of white marble,
which weighed eleven tons, and had been captured
from the French by Sir George Rooke.
At each extremity of the terrace in front of the
hospital is a small pavilion; their use, however, is
not very apparent, they were erected in 1778, and
named respectively after King George III. and
Queen Charlotte, but it is not on record that their
majesties ever used them for tea-parties or other
purposes. On the terrace, in front of the gates, is
a granite obelisk, erected as "a memorial of the
gallant young Frenchman, Joseph René Bellot,
who perished in the search for Sir John Franklin,
August, 1853." In the north-west corner of the
grounds, in front of the "Ship" hotel, is another
obelisk, put up in memory of several officers who
fell during the Indian Mutiny.
King Charles's Building is on the west side of
the great square. The eastern portion formed the
unfinished palace of Charles II.; it is built about
an inner quadrangle, and is constructed of Portland
stone. In the centre is a portico of the Corinthian
order, crowned with an entablature and pediment;
and in the pediment is a piece of sculpture, consisting of two figures, one representing Fortitude, and
the other the Dominion of the Sea. At each end
is a pavilion formed by four pilasters of the Corinthian order, and surmounted by an attic. The
four fronts of this block of buildings nearly correspond with each other. In the pediment on the
eastern side is a piece of sculpture representing
Mars and Fame. Some part of this block having
become very much decayed, it was rebuilt in 1814.
Richardson, in his "History of Greenwich," states
that Admiral George Byng was "confined in that
quarter of Greenwich Hospital known as King
Charles's Building, in the year 1756, previous to
his execution at Portsmouth in 1757." He also
adds, "The individual to whom the author is indebted for his information waited on the admiral
in the capacity of servant to the Marshal of the
Admiralty, in whose custody the admiral then was,
and, accompanying his master and the prisoner to
Portsmouth, it eventually fell to his lot to place
the cushion for the admiral to kneel upon when
he was shot."
Queen Anne's Building, the corresponding block
facing the river, was commenced in 1698, and
was so named on the accession of Anne to the
throne. It resembles King Charles's Building,
except that the pediments are without sculpture.
This building now serves as the Naval Museum, of
which we shall have more to say presently.
To the south of Queen Anne's Building is
another block, named after Queen Mary, the north
side of which forms the chapel. The lofty cupola
at the western extremity of the chapel serves as
the vestibule, in which are statues of Faith, Hope,
Meekness, and Charity, from designs by Benjamin
West. From this vestibule a flight of steps leads
into the chapel, through folding doors of mahogany,
highly enriched and carved. The original chapel
being destroyed by fire in January, 1779, the
present structure was erected in its place, from the
designs of James Stuart ("Athenian Stuart"), and
was opened for service in 1789. The chapel
is upwards of 100 feet long, and more than 50 feet
wide. The nave, and space round the communiontable and organ-gallery, is paved with black and
white marble, and in the centre of the nave is the
representation of an anchor and a seaman's compass. The ceiling is divided into compartments,
ornamented with foliage and other designs in the
antique style. The whole interior of the chapel is
richly decorated with coloured marbles, scagliola,
and fancy woods, sculpture, carving, and painting.
Entrance to the chapel is gained through an
elaborately-sculptured marble screen with a frieze,
by Bacon; and at each end of the chapel are four
marble columns of the Corinthian order, supporting the roof. In recesses above the gallery door,
&c., are figures of prophets and evangelists, by
Benjamin West; whilst over the communion-table
is a large painting, also by West, representing the
"Preservation of St. Paul from Shipwreck on the
Island of Melita."
King William's Building, at the south-west side,
like the corresponding block, has massive Doric
columns, and comprises the great, or Painted Hall,
the dining-hall of the original institution, with its
vestibule and cupola. This part of the hospital
was so far completed by the commencement of the
year 1705, as to be capable of receiving forty-two
seamen. Three years later there were 300 pensioners within the walls. The colonnades to King
William's and Queen Mary's Buildings are each
347 feet long, with returns of seventy feet. Each
contains 300 coupled Doric columns twenty feet
high.
That portion of the structure of which Evelyn
laid the foundation was completed in two years,
the architect being Sir Christopher Wren, who,
it is said, generously undertook the work of that
post without any emolument, his labours being
equivalent to a large subscription. In 1698, Sir
Christopher Wren submitted to the committee a
plan for a large dining-hall (now the Painted Hall),
which being approved of by them, the necessary
portion of ground was immediately laid out, and
the work prosecuted with such diligence, that the
whole was roofed in and the dome erected by
August, 1703, forming what is now called "King
William's Building." The hall, originally intended
as the hospital refectory, now serves as the gallery
of naval pictures. It is upwards of 100 feet in
length, by fifty feet in width, and about the same
in height. It is sufficiently well lighted for the
purpose for which it was originally designed, but
hardly so for a picture-gallery. It is entered by a
noble vestibule, open to one of the lofty cupolas,
from which it receives a very dim and shadowy
light. A short flight of steps leads up into the hall,
the ceiling of which at once rivets the attention of
the visitor. This was painted by Sir James Thornhill, and is divided into compartments. Its praises
were first sounded by Sir Richard Steele, who,
in his play of The Lover, has given an admirable
description of it. In the central compartment
appear King William and Queen Mary, surrounded
by allegorical personages, intended to typify national
prosperity, and the compartments are filled with
figures representing the Seasons, the Elements, the
Zodiac, with portraits of Copernicus, Newton, &c.;
emblems of science and naval trophies. Every
one remembers the marvellous story of Sir James
Thornhill stepping back to see the effect of his
painting upon the ceiling, and being prevented
from falling to the floor by some person defacing
a portion of his work, thus causing the painter to
rush forward and save himself from death.
GREENWICH HOSPITAL, FROM THE RIVER.
The painting of this hall occupied Sir James
Thornhill nineteen years, from 1708 to 1727; and
he was paid at the rate of £3 a square yard for
the ceiling, and £1 a yard for the walls. On the
latter are fluted Corinthian pilasters, trophies, &c.
Beyond the great hall is a raised apartment, called
the "upper hall."
The great hall, as we have said, was at first
intended to be used as the common refectory of the
institution, the upper chamber being appropriated
to the table of the officers, and the lower to those of
the pensioners. But when the growing revenue of
the Hospital gradually led to an increase of the
number of its inmates, the space proved inadequate
to their accommodation; the table of the officers
was discontinued, and other dining-halls for the
men were provided on the basement storey. The
noble apartment had been thus unoccupied nearly
a century, when, in 1794, the Lieutenant-Governor,
Mr. Locker, suggested its appropriation to the
service of a National Gallery of Marine Paintings,
to commemorate the eminent services of the Royal
Navy of England. This tasteful design was not
then executed; but in 1823 it was again proposed by Governor Locker's son, who, with the
consent of the then commissioners and governor,
began the collection of the various paintings. The
plan was warmly patronised by George IV., who
promptly and liberally gave directions that the
extensive and valuable series of portraits of the
celebrated admirals of the reigns of Charles II.
and William III. at Windsor Castle and Hampton
Court should be transferred hither; and the king
subsequently presented several other valuable and
appropriate paintings from his private collection at
St. James's Palace and Carlton House. Thus was
formed the nucleus of "The Naval Gallery." The
example thus set by royalty was promptly followed by gifts of pictures from many noble and
other liberal benefactors; and thus, in the course
of a few years, the walls of the Painted Hall were
adorned with portraits of our celebrated naval
commanders, and representations of their actions.
To these, five other valuable pictures were added
by King William IV., in the year 1835. The
collection removed hither from Hampton Court
included Sir Godfrey Kneller's series of portraits
known as "Queen Anne's Admirals," a series
of some little value to the student of costume,
as showing all the modifications of the flowing
wig which marked the era of the later Stuarts.
Besides the portraits of most of the celebrated
naval heroes who have arisen in our isle since we
became "super-eminent as a sea-faring and a
sea-conquering people," beginning with Raleigh,
Willoughby, Hawkins, and Drake, there are here
large numbers of naval pictures of great interest,
such as the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, the
Battle of Barfleur, Duncan's Victory at Camperdown, Nelson's Victory of the Nile, the Battle of
Trafalgar, &c. The "upper hall" is painted in a
style to correspond with the great hall, but here
the walls, as well as the ceiling, are covered. The
ceiling exhibits Queen Anne and her consort,
Prince George of Denmark; other figures personify
the four quarters of the globe; and on the walls
below are represented, on one side, the landing
of William III. at Torbay in 1688, on the other
the arrival of George I. at Greenwich. The central
wall, facing the entrance, presents a group of portraits of King George I. and two generations of
his family. The dome of St. Paul's, then newly
erected, appears in the background, amidst a cloud
of tutelary virtues; and in front is to be seen Sir
James Thornhill, the painter. The models of old
men-of-war, the Franklin relics, and other objects
formerly exhibited here, are now removed to the
Naval Museum, which we shall presently notice.
One object, however, which was formerly shown
here, has altogether disappeared. This was the
funeral car in which the body of Nelson was conveyed, "with all the pomp befitting the gratitude
of a great nation to the illustrious dead," to St.
Paul's Cathedral. "Of all the pageantry that Greenwhich has witnessed since it became a town," writes
Charles Mackay, in his "Thames and its Tributaries," "this was, if not the most magnificent,
the most grand and impressive. The body, after
lying in state for three days in the hospital, during
which it was visited by immense multitudes, was
conveyed, on the 8th of January, 1806, up the river
to Whitehall, followed in procession by the City
Companies in their state barges. The flags of all
the vessels in the river were lowered half-mast
high, in token of mourning, and solemn minuteguns were fired during the whole time of the
procession. The body lay all that night at the
Admiralty, and on the following morning was
removed on a magnificent car, surmounted by
plumes of feathers and decorated with heraldic
insignia, to its final resting-place in St. Paul's
Cathedral. From the Admiralty to St. Paul's the
streets were all lined with the military. The
procession was headed by detachments of the
Dragoon Guards, the Scots Greys, and the 92nd
Highlanders, with the Duke of York and his staff,
the band playing that sublime funeral strain, the
'Dead March in Saul.' Then followed the pensioners of Greenwich Hospital and the seamen of
Lord Nelson's ship, the Victory, a deputation from
the Common Council of London, and a long
train of mourning coaches, including those of the
royal family, the chief officers of state, and all
the principal nobility of the kingdom. When the
coffin, covered with the flag of the Victory, was
about to be lowered into the grave, an affecting
incident occurred: the attendant sailors who had
borne the pall rushed forward, and seizing upon
the flag, before a voice could be raised to prevent
them, rent it into shreds, in the intensity of their
feelings, that each might preserve a shred as a
memento of the departed." The car and its
trappings gradually decayed, and becoming wormeaten and past repair, were broken up.
THE PAINTED HALL, GREENWICH HOSPITAL.
A small apartment adjoining the upper hall,
called the Nelson Room, contains an admirable
portrait of Nelson, painted by Abbot, and also
some half-dozen pictures illustrative of events in
the great admiral's life, together with Benjamin
West's strange admixture of realism and allegory,
called the Apotheosis of Nelson.
"When we consider the entire dependence of
every great work of this class on the caprice of
successive rulers," writes the author of "Bohn's
Pictorial Handbook of London," "we shall think
it much more remarkable that every royal family,
except that of England, should have been able to
begin and finish a palace (and in some cases more
than one), than that English sovereigns should have
not yet achieved such a work. Greenwich is the
attempt that most nearly reached realisation; and,
as when it is seen from the river the patchwork is
mostly out of sight, the group becomes the most
complete architectural scene we possess. The two
northern masses of building are from a design of
Jones; though the first was not erected till after his
death, by his pupil and son-in-law Webb; and the
other not till Queen Anne's reign, after whom it
is named. The older (or King Charles's) building
was partly rebuilt in 1811–14, and distinguished
by sculpture of artificial stone in the pediment.
The southern masses are chiefly from a design of
Sir Christopher Wren, and were commenced by
William and Mary, whose names they bear; but
their construction proceeding slowly, successive
periods have left the melancholy marks of steadily
declining taste and increasing parsimony; that
which begins in Portland stone and Corinthian
splendour sinking at length into mean brickwork,
or unable to afford in inferior stone the most
ordinary degree of finish. The design of the brick
portions is in the most corrupt taste of Vanbrugh,
but whatever is visible from the centre of the
group is by Jones or Wren. The inferiority of
the latter is obvious in the comparative want of
repose, and greater crowding and flutter of small
and multiplied parts. The two pyramidising masses
crowned by domes are finely placed, and quite
characteristic of his style, as is also the coupling of
columns in the colonnades. There is nothing so
majestic as either the inward or river elevations of
Jones's work, but more picturesqueness and variety.
The two not only show the distinction between the
tastes of these masters, but also exemplify, in some
measure, that between the Roman and Venetian
schools of modern architecture; the northern
buildings having some resemblance to the former,
though, in general, both our great architects were
followers of the latter."
Such, then, is the general appearance of Greenwich Hospital, an edifice which, as stated in an
earlier chapter, was considered by Peter the Great
more fitted to be the abode of royalty than that
of worn-out seamen. Samuel Rogers, in his poem,
the "Pleasures of Memory, thus speaks of the institution:
"Hail! noblest structure, imaged in the wave,
A nation's grateful tribute to the brave;
Hail! blest retreat from war and shipwreck, hail!
That oft arrest the wondering stranger's sail.
Long have ye heard the narratives of age,
The battle's havoc, and the tempest's rage;
Long have ye known Reflection's genial ray,
Gild the calm close of Valour's various day.
Time's sombrous touches soon correct the piece,
Mellow each tint, and bid each discord cease;
A softer tone of light pervades the whole,
And steals a pensive languor o'er the soul."
OLD VIEW OF GREENWICH PALACE. (After Hollar.)
The idea here shadowed forth may be a little
exaggerated, and "discord" may, perhaps, not
have wholly "ceased" within the walls of the
hospital to the extent pictured by the poet—at
all events, whilst the old pensioners occupied its
apartments; but still these lines give expression
to a truth which has been felt and acknowledged
by hundreds and thousands of visitors both before
and since they were penned.
The hospital, as we have seen, was first opened
as an asylum in 1705, when forty-two disabled
seamen were admitted. In 1738 the number of
pensioners had increased to 1,000, which had
become doubled in the course of the next forty
years. The number was subsequently increased
to about 3,000, independently of about 32,000
out-pensioners. Each of the pensioners had a
weekly allowance of seven loaves, weighing 1 lb.
each, 3 lbs. of beef, 2 lbs. of mutton, a pint of pease,
1¼ lb. of cheese, 2 oz. of butter, 14 qrts. of beer,
and one shilling a week tobacco money; besides
which he received, once in two years, a suit of
blue clothes, a hat, three pairs of stockings, two
pairs of shoes, five neck-cloths, three shirts, and
two nightcaps.
According to Richardson's work on Greenwich,
quoted above, the funds, by means of which this
institution has been raised and maintained, were
derived from the following sources:—"The sum of
£2,000 per annum granted by the king in 1695,
and other subscriptions; a duty of sixpence per
month from every mariner, granted by Act of
Parliament in 1696; the gift of some land by King
William in 1698; the grant of £19,500 in 1699,
being the amount of fines paid by various merchants
for smuggling; £600, the produce of a lottery, in
1699; the profits of the markets at Greenwich,
granted by Henry, Earl of Romney, in 1700; the
grant by the Crown, in 1701, of the ground where
the market was formerly kept, and some edifices
adjoining, in perpetuity; £6,472 1s., the amount
of the effects of Kid, the pirate, given by Queen
Anne in 1705; the moiety (valued at £20,000) of
an estate bequeathed by Robert Osbolston, Esq.,
in 1707; and the profits of the unexpired lease of
the North and South Foreland Lighthouses (since
renewed for ninety-nine years to the hospital); a
grant of land in 1707; forfeited and unclaimed
shares of prize-money, granted by Act of Parliament
in 1708, and several subsequent acts; £6,000 per
annum, granted by Queen Anne in 1710, out of a
duty on coal, and continued for a long term by
George I.; the wages of the chaplains of the
hospital, and the value of their provisions, &c., as
chaplains of Deptford and Woolwich Dockyards—an increase of salary having been given them in
lieu thereof; the amount of the half-pay of all the
officers of the hospital—salaries being allowed in
lieu thereof; £10,000, grant in 1728, and several
subsequent years, by Parliament; the grant by the
king, in 1730, of a small piece of land, with the
crane, adjoining the river; an estate given by Mr.
Clapham at Eltham, in 1730, consisting of several
houses and warehouses near London Bridge; and
the forfeited estates of the Earl of Derwentwater,
given by Act of Parliament in 1735, deducting
an annual rent-charge of £2,500 to the Earl of
Newburgh and his heirs male. Several contributions have also been made by private individuals,
among which may be noticed £10,000 Three per
Cent. Consols, and £2,600, both anonymous benefactions; £1,110 by Captain J. Turroyman; £500
by Captain J. Matthews; and £210, being part
of a sum subscribed at Lloyd's Coffee-house, on
account of an action fought October 11th, 1797."
By Queen Anne's Commission, dated July 21st,
1703, there were appointed seven commissioners,
who were to form a general court; the Lord High
Admiral, the Lord Treasurer, or any two privy
councillors, to form a quorum; the governor and
treasurer were appointed by the Crown, and all
the other necessary officers by the Lord High
Admiral, on the recommendation of the general
court. The same commission appointed twentyfive directors, called the "standing committee,"
who met once every fortnight, and vested the
internal government in the governor and a council
of officers who were appointed by the Lord High
Admiral. By a charter, granted by George III.,
the commissioners became a body corporate, with
full power to finish the building, to provide for
seamen either within or without the hospital, to
make bye-laws, &c.; and this charter was followed
by an Act of Parliament, which vested in the
commissioners, thus incorporated, all the estates
held in trust for the benefit of the hospital. By
an Act passed in 1829, "for the better management of the affairs of Greenwich Hospital," this
corporation of commissioners and governors was
dissolved, and five commissioners appointed in
their stead, and in them the estates and property
of the hospital—amounting, from the various
sources mentioned above, to nearly £170,000
annually—was vested. These commissioners were
generally members of Parliament who had served
in the inferior offices of the ministry, ex-lords of
the Treasury, Admiralty, &c. Complaints of great
want of economy in the employment of this large
revenue, the evidently increasing disinclination of
seamen to enter the hospital as in-patients, and a
doubt whether the institution was adapted to the
existing social condition of the class which it was
intended to benefit, led, ultimately, to a Commission of Enquiry, on whose recommendation,
in 1865, an Act of Parliament was passed, by
which improved arrangements were made as to
the out-pensioners, and advantageous terms were
offered to such inmates of the hospital as were
willing to retire from it, with a view of closing it as
an almshouse.
Out of 1,400 in-pensioners then in the hospital,
nearly a thousand at once elected to leave. A
second act, passed in 1869, effected a final clearance; and in the following year Greenwich Hospital
ceased to be an asylum for seamen, though the
last-mentioned act provides that in case of war
the building shall be at all times available for its
original purpose. On the departure of the old
veteran seamen, for whom this great work was
erected, Greenwich lost many of its distinctive and
most glorious associations. The change was a
severe one for many of the old men, and it is said
that more than half the number died within a very
short time of vacating their old quarters. It seems,
however, to have been the opinion of many who
knew the old pensioners and the present race of
"salts," that the new arrangement—by which they
receive their pensions in money, and live where
and as they please with their relatives or friends—is better for them mentally as well as physically,
and is more acceptable to the present generation
of sailors.
It was a pleasing sight, on a fine day, to see the
old pensioners standing about in groups, or taking
a solitary walk in the courts of the Hospital, or
intent upon some newspaper, or perchance a book
of adventures by sea, which recalled to them the
experiences of early life. In the beautiful park
hard by they appeared to find much gratification
in rambling; and many of them would establish
themselves on some green knoll, provided with a
telescope, the wonders of which they would exhibit
to strangers, and point out, with all the talkativeness of age, the remarkable objects which might
be seen on every side. The appearance of these
veterans—some without a leg or arm, others hobbling from the infirmities of wounds, or of years,
and all clothed in old-fashioned blue coats and
breeches, with cocked hats—would oddly contrast
with the splendour of the building which they
inhabited, did not the recollection that these
men were amongst the noblest defenders of their
country give a dignity to the objects which everywhere presented themselves, and make the crutch
of the veteran to harmonise with the grandeur of
the fabric in which he found his final port after
the storms of a life of enterprise and danger.
The habitations of the pensioners were divided
into wards, each bearing a name which had been,
or might be, appropriated to a ship. These wards
consisted of large and airy rooms, on either side of
which there were little cabins, in which each man
had his bed. Every cabin had some convenience
or ornament, the exclusive possession of its tenant;
and these little appendages might have led one
to speculate upon the character of the man to
whom they belonged. In one might be seen a
ballad and a ludicrous print; in another a Christmas carol and a Bible. In large communities, and
particularly in a collegiate life, men must greatly
subdue their personal habits and feelings into harmony with the general character of their society;
but the individuality of the human mind will still
predominate, displaying itself in a thousand little
particulars, each of which would furnish to the
accurate inquirer an increased knowledge of the
human heart. The pensioners messed in common,
and they assembled on Sundays for their devotions
in the chapel of the Hospital. Now that the aged
veterans have departed, we may well exclaim in the
words of the poet:—
"—The race of yore
Who danced our infancy upon their knee,
And told our marvelling boyhood legends store
Of their strange ventures happ'd by land or sea,
How are they blotted from the things that be!"
After the pensioners left their old home, the
Hospital remained closed and unoccupied for some
short time, but it was eventually decided to make
it the seat of a Royal Naval College. With this
view, the interior of King Charles's Building was
remodelled and converted into class-rooms for
the naval students; the rooms in Queen Mary's
Building were renovated and fitted up as dormitories and as general and mess rooms for the
engineer officers and students, whilst the Hospital
Chapel in this block became the College Chapel.
It was also proposed that the Painted Hall should
become the college dining-hall, but this intention
was ultimately abandoned. The rest of the building was remodelled so as to provide a lecture
theatre and comfortable mess-rooms.
The college was opened in February, 1873,
having been organised, to use the words of the
Order in Council which sanctioned its foundation,
"for the purpose of providing for the education of
naval officers of all ranks above that of midshipmen
in all branches of theoretical and scientific study
bearing upon their profession." The money necessary for the establishment of the new college upon
an adequate scale was willingly voted by Parliament, and the votes for its subsequent maintenance,
although amounting to a comparatively large sum,
have been likewise passed, year by year, without
a question, so that nothing has hindered the Admiralty from carrying out its intentions of giving
to the executive officers of the Navy generally
every possible advantage in respect of scientific
education. The college receives as students
naval officers of all grades, from captains and
commanders, to sub-lieutenants, as also officers of
the Royal Marine Artillery, Royal Marine Light
Infantry, and Naval Engineers, and also a limited
number of apprentices selected annually by competitive examinations from the Royal Dockyards.
By special permission, officers of the mercantile
marine, and private students of naval architecture
and marine engineering, are admitted to the college
classes; but they must reside outside the precincts
of the Hospital. At the head of the college is
a flag officer as president, who is assisted by
a naval captain in matters affecting discipline; and
by a Director of Studies, who is charged with the
organisation and superintendence of the whole
system of instruction and the various courses of
study. For the carrying out of a complete system
of scientific and practical instruction, there is a
large staff of professors, lecturers, and teachers. In
the first annual report on the Royal Naval College
which was presented to both Houses of Parliament,
the president stated that "the results of the year
show that the standard of examination is so adjusted as to enable officers of good abilities, who
on entering the navy dilligently apply themselves
to studying their profession, to obtain their lieutenant's commission; while, on the other hand,
it affords to those who are backward and ignorant
on joining the college an opportunity of retrieving
lost time and of maintaining their place in the navy
if they earnestly avail themselves throughout the
whole period of study of the means afforded them
at the college."
Queen Anne's Building, as we have stated above,
has been fitted up as a naval museum, primarily
for the use of the college, but open also to the
inspection of the public, except on Fridays and
Sundays. It contains the models of ancient and
modern ships formerly exhibited at South Kensington, and a great variety of other objects of maritime interest brought from that institution, from
the Painted Hall, from Woolwich, Portsmouth,
and different naval stations both at home and
abroad. It presents, in fact, a complete epitome
of naval history, and a most instructive and
valuable series of illustrations of the progress and
development of naval architecture and engineering.
The museum occupies seventeen rooms, and they
still retain the respective names which were
bestowed upon them after the ships in which their
pugnacious old occupants had won their victories—such, for instance, as the "Howe," the "Windsor
Castle," the "Victory," the "Vanguard," and so on.
Space will not admit of our giving more than a
hurried glance at the very interesting collection of
objects here brought together. In the east wing
are placed models showing the construction of
dockyards, docks, plans for hauling up and dock
ing ships, classification of masts, yards, &c.; lifeboats, rafts, lowering apparatus for saving life at
sea, models of engines and machinery, &c. In the
west wing, the models of line-of-battle ships are
very interesting, even to those who cannot boast of
any knowledge of naval matters. The series begins
with the well-known Great Harry, which was built
in 1513 to replace one destroyed by the French a
year or two previously; and from this comparatively
primitive craft—which, however, could boast of
carrying 122 guns, thirteen of which were ninepounders!—the models present various intermediate stages of development until we arrive at
the modern iron-clad and turret-ship. The complete revolution which has taken place in all fighting-ships, and the rapidity with which it has been
brought about, are very strikingly shown here.
Models which only a few years ago represented the
utmost achievements of our naval architects and
engineers, look now to be a very trivial advance
upon the Great Harry. In an adjoining room
are models of ships' ventilating arrangements,
screws, paddles, windlasses, anchors, and so forth;
besides which there is an imposing array of missiles
and explosives of various kinds. The shells of
various sizes and forms, exhibited in longitudinal
sections, afford at a glance a great deal of information on the internal nature of these deadly messengers; then there are some diabolical-looking
machines in the form of torpedoes and submarine
mines. In a small room dividing the "Victory"
from the "Vanguard" are deposited the interesting
collection of relics of Sir John Franklin and his
party, which the Lords of the Admiralty presented
to Greenwich Hospital many years ago, and which
had hitherto remained in the Painted Hall with the
"Nelson relics," which likewise have been removed
here. The coat which Nelson wore at the battle
of the Nile, when placed here with other relics
by King William IV., was an object of attraction
to thousands of modern relic-worshippers. It was
given to the king by the Hon. Mrs. Damer, the
well-known sculptor, to whom it was given by
Nelson, when he sat to her for his bust. The walls
of this room are adorned with a valuable collection
of sketches by Benjamin West, representing the
rough designs for paintings and sculptures in the
hospital chapel. The same apartment contains, on
a pedestal, the famous old "astrolabe," constructed
for Sir Francis Drake's expedition to the West Indies,
and presented to the hospital by the same king.
GROUP OF GREENWICH PENSIONERS.
THE ROYAL NAVAL SCHOOL, GREENWICH. (From a Drawing made in 1830.)
At a short distance westward of King William's
Building is a large, substantial brick structure of
two storeys, forming a closed square, which served
as the infirmary for the old pensioners. It was
built in the early part of the reign of George III.,
but was partly destroyed in the fire of 1811.
When the buildings above described were appropriated for the purposes of a Naval College, this
infirmary was assigned by the Government to that
excellent institution, the Seamen's Hospital Society,
whose hospital ship, the Dreadnought, moored off
Greenwich, was for years so familiar to all passengers on the Thames. The infirmary was opened
in 1870, as a "Free Hospital for Seamen of All
Nations." It contains in all upwards of sixty
rooms, together with a chapel, library, museum,
surgery, dispensary, and apartments for the medical
staff and their assistants. The building, which
appears to be well adapted to its purpose, can provide space for 300 beds; between 2,000 and 3,000
patients are received here annually. The Seamen's
Hospital Society dates from the year 1821, when
their floating asylum was originally established on
board the Grampus, a 50-gun ship, which had been
granted for the purpose by the Board of Admiralty.
It claims particular attention on account of its
great usefulness, being exclusively appropriated to
the relief of a class of men who had till that time
been entirely destitute of a hospital suited to their
peculiar habits, being the only establishment for
the reception of sick seamen arriving from abroad,
or to whom accidents may happen in the river.
In 1831, the Grampus being found incapable of
furnishing sufficient accommodation, the Dreadnought, a 98-gun ship, which had once captured a
Spanish three-decker in Trafalgar Bay, was granted
by the Government, and to her the patients were
transferred; but in 1870 it was decided, on sanitary and other grounds, to discontinue the hospital
afloat, and the Dreadnought was abandoned, the
occupants being removed on shore to the infirmary.
Here are received the sick and disabled seamen of
every nation, on presenting themselves, no recommendation being necessary; and here they are
maintained, and, when necessary, clothed, until
entirely convalescent. It is worthy of note that
this excellent institution is supported mainly by
voluntary contributions, and that no money is
received from the Government towards the annual
expenditure. The Duke of Northumberland, in
a letter to the Times in February, 1877, thus
presses the claim of the Seamen's Hospital on the
support of the public: "The seaman, for whose
benefit this institution was founded, has ever been
recognised as having a special title to the succour
and sympathy of this nation, which owes its
grandeur, nay, its existence, to his labour and
sufferings in her cause. To him no other introduction is needed than sickness, disease, or accident, without distinction of colour, creed, or
nation. This society affords a refuge, not only
during actual illness, but until the sufferer has
gained strength to resume his occupation; 170,000
patients have already received relief at its hands,
and the annual admissions have increased with
the increased accommodation consequent on the
transfer to the society of the infirmary of Greenwich
Hospital, a noble grant from the Imperial Government, conveying with it, as it were, a national
recognition of its services. To maintain it in full
efficiency a more liberal support on the part of the
public is required, not only on account of the additional number of patients received, but of the extra
expense which the general rise in prices has brought
on the funds of the establishment. An increase
of the annual subscription-list from its present
amount of £2,500 to £6,000 is the only sound
method of ensuring this object, donations only
affording a casual and uncertain resource. I feel
assured that the attention of the benevolent has
only to be drawn to these facts to secure for the
Seaman's Hospital Society all the help it requires
to develop to the full the capabilities of an institution, national in its origin and cosmopolitan in
the scope and range of the benefits it confers."
It may not be out of place to state here that
Her Majesty the Queen contributes 100 guineas
annually to the funds of this institution, annually
expressing "her anxiety for the maintenance of so
excellent a charity, which grants relief when most
needed to seamen of all nations."
Close by this building are the western gates, the
piers of which are crowned by two large stone
globes—one the celestial and the other the terrestrial—each six feet in diameter; on the former
the meridians and circles, and on the latter the
parallels of latitude and longitude are said to have
been laid down, and the globes adjusted with great
accuracy, by the authorities of the Observatory.
The Queen's House, as the building on the
south side of Greenwich Hospital was once called,
now serves as the Royal Naval School, and thither
we will now proceed. The building, which was
commenced by Anne of Denmark, and finished by
Henrietta Maria, forms the centre of the present
range of buildings devoted to the purposes of the
school, and immediately faces the central avenue
of the hospital. It bears on the front the date
1635, but it has been much altered since then.
The wings are united to the central building by a
colonnade 180 feet long. The Queen's House,
after being long used as the ranger's lodge, when
it was known as Pelham House, was, in 1807,
appropriated to the use of the Royal Naval
Asylum, which had been originally established at
Paddington. The Royal Naval Schools, although
cut off from the actual precincts of Greenwich
Hospital, in spite of many internal changes, are
among the earliest foundations in connection with
it. In the original charter it was provided that
out of the funds provision was to be made for
"the maintenance and education of the children of
seamen happening to be slain or disabled in the
service of the royal navy." In pursuance of this
provision a school was founded at Greenwich in
1712, for boys and girls, the qualification being
that they were the children of "pensioners or other
poor seamen." At first the number of boys was
only ten; but, with a gradual increase in the
revenue of the hospital, this number was increased
to 200 in the year 1803. In 1821 the Royal Naval
Asylum, which at that time educated 680 boys
and 200 girls, was incorporated with these schools.
After some other changes, the Greenwich schools
were open to receive the sons of officers, and they
supplied an education by no means contemplated
either in character or cost by the original act. An
investigation made by a committee in 1871 discovered not only that the schools were being improperly administered, but that boys were entered
who were totally unfit for sea life; and in nearly
every conceivable respect they found the intentions
of the founders of these schools had been compromised. They recommended, therefore, a radical
alteration in their organisation, they re-imposed the
old conditions of entry, and insisted on a preparation for sea life being considered an indispensable
condition of entry. Under this revision, which
was speedily carried out, the schools became, as
was intended, a sort of nursery for the navy. The
boys, under this system, are now entered at ten
years of age; and if, at the age of thirteen, they
are unwilling or unable to enter the navy, they are
compelled to leave the school, and make way for
boys who are fit for naval service. The number of
boys under instruction is nearly 1,000, and besides
the ordinary rudiments of education they are
taught seamanship as well as it possibly can be
taught on shore, and they are also trained to all
kinds of industrial occupations, such as cooking,
bread-making, tailoring, washing (the heavy work
being done by labour-saving machinery), ironing,
carpentering, and other like work—the whole of
the clothes for the school being made on the spot,
the repairs of the building done by the inmates,
and the food cooked, the boys doing the greater
part of the labour.
In connection with the Royal Naval School there
is a spacious swimming-bath, where all the boys are
taught to swim; there is also a capacious gymnasium; and last, not least, a full-rigged model
ship, a corvette, on the lawn in front of the
principal building, in which the juvenile crew are
taught the "duties of men of the sea." In the
year 1877 it was announced that the Admiralty
proposed to make an important alteration in the
school, requiring henceforth that the boys who
entered it should give a guarantee that, if judged
to be physically fit, they would enter Her Majesty's
navy at the conclusion of their training.
The administration of the affairs of Greenwich
Hospital, down to the time of its "disestablishment" as such, were, as we have stated above, in
the hands of a Board of Commissioners, appointed
under royal charter. The principal officers were a
governor, lieutenant-governor, four captains, eight
lieutenants, a treasurer, a secretary, an auditor, a
surveyor, a clerk of the works, a clerk of the
cheque, two chaplains, a physician, a surgeon, a
steward, and various other assistants.
It would, of course, be impossible for us in these
pages to speak of all the distinguished men who
have taken part in these different offices; but we
may be pardoned for mentioning two or three.
Among the former chaplains, then, was the Rev.
Nicholas Tindal, the fellow-worker with Morant in
the "History of Essex," and also in the translation
of Rapin's "History of England." He died at an
advanced age, and was buried in the new cemetery.
Of Evelyn and his son-in-law, Draper, we have
already spoken as acting as treasurers; another
person who occupied that position was Mr. Swynfen
Jervis, a solicitor, the father of a great naval commander, Lord St. Vincent, whose after-life, too,
in a manner became interested in the affairs of
Greenwich Hospital. How Lord St. Vincent's early
difficulties were overcome by native hardihood and
determination, we learn from his own words. "My
father," he says, "had a very large family, with
very limited means. He gave me at starting in
life £20, and that was all he ever gave me. After
I had been a considerable time at the station
[Jamaica] I drew for twenty more, but the bill
came back protested. I was mortified at this
rebuke, and made a promise, which I have ever
kept, that I would never draw another bill without a
certainty of its being paid. I immediately changed
my mode of living; quitted my mess, lived alone,
and took up the ship's allowance, which I found
quite sufficient; washed and mended my old
clothes; and made a pair of trousers out of the
ticking of my bed; and having by these means
saved as much money as redeemed my honour,
I took up my bill, and from that time to this I
have lived within my means."
Edward, first Earl of Sandwich—the "My lord"
of Pepys's "Diary"—in his official capacity as
Lord High Admiral of England, took an active
part in the administration of the affairs of Greenwich Hospital. As Sir Edward Montagu he had
been distinguished as a military commander under
the Parliamentarian banner in the civil war, and
was subsequently joint High Admiral of England, in
which capacity, having had sufficient influence to
induce the whole fleet to acknowledge the restored
monarchy, he was elevated to the peerage by
Charles II. After the Restoration, he obtained
the highest renown as a naval officer, and fell in
the great sea-fight with the Dutch, off Southwold
Bay, in 1672. His great-grandson, John, the
fourth Earl of Sandwich, was likewise officially,
and perhaps not very creditably, connected with
Greenwich Hospital. This nobleman, an eminent
diplomatist and statesman, assisted at the congress
of Aix-la-Chapelle, in the year 1748; he was subsequently Secretary of State, and first Lord of the
Admiralty.
The appointment of Sir Hugh Palliser, in 1778,
to the governorship of Greenwich Hospital, was
the subject of a vote of censure on the ministry,
proposed by no less a person than Charles James
Fox. The motion was negatived, and Palliser
held the post till his death in 1796; but no First
Lord of the Admiralty ever ventured again to give
him active employ at sea.
It will be remembered by the readers of history
that the affairs of this hospital gave Lord Erskine
his first start in that profession of which he rose to
be so great a luminary. Having left the navy,
and been called to the Bar, he was engaged in a
prosecution for libel, which was in fact instituted
by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sandwich,
who had abused the munificent institution which
was under his official control by appointing landsmen as pensioners, in order to serve the electioneering purposes of his party. Such was the effect of
Mr. Erskine's indignant speech in this case that
the hitherto unknown advocate had thirty retaining
fees offered him on the spot, and he may be
said to have left the court with his fortune made.
He ultimately became, as is well known, Lord
Chancellor, in the ministry of "All the Talents,"
and a peer of the realm.
When the Act of Parliament above referred to
came into operation, the offices of commissioners,
governor, and lieutenant-governor were abolished,
and the Admiralty had conferred upon them the
power to dismiss any other officials it may think
proper; but every such official would be allowed
to receive an annuity for life equal in amount to
the salaries and emoluments he then enjoyed, and
he would also continue to receive any superannuation allowance he might at the time be in receipt
of. The governor and lieutenant-governor were
allowed to retain their titles and their residences
in the hospital.
The entire control of the hospital and institutions
attached to it is now in the Admiralty, subject to
the veto of the council, and the expenses are, in
the first instance, paid out of money provided by
Parliament for that purpose. All the property
belonging to the hospital is vested in the Admiralty
under the same provisions as lands vested in the
Board under the Admiralty Lands and Works Act
of 1864, together with the £20,000 paid annually
out of the Consolidated Fund.
In concluding this chapter, we may remark that
before the "chest," or fund for disabled seamen,
was removed to Greenwich, in order to be better
regulated, the pensioners, who resided at a distance
from the spot, and whose appearance before the
commissioners was only occasionally required, were
accustomed to barter away their stipends to certain
usurers, who made large fortunes at their expense.
These were the speculators in "seamen's tickets,"
of whom it is generally, though erroneously, supposed that Thomas Guy was a specimen. (fn. 1)