Greenwich Hospital

An engraving of Greenwich Hospital as seen from the Thames, dated 4 June 1810. The Royal Hospital for Seamen at Grenwich was founded by Queen Mary, and the first pensioners were admitted in 1705. In addition to the in-pensioners, the Hospital also maintained out-pensioners and provided pensions and allowances for widows and orphans of seamen and marines. A school for the sons of seamen was attached to the Hospital from about 1712 and in 1821-25 it absorbed the Royal Naval Asylum for the children of seamen. It ceased to house in-pensioners in 1869 and in 1873 the building became the home of the Royal Naval College, but Greenwich Hospital remains a Crown Charity and continues to administer the school, which moved to Holbrook, Suffolk, in 1933.