Chelsea Pensioners prepare for the Service of Remembrance at the Royal Hospital Chelsea yesterday. The Governor of the Royal Hospital, General Sir Adrian Bradshaw KCB OBE DL, is third from right.
“The Royal Hospital Chelsea was established over 300 years ago, during the reign of King Charles II, to provide a home for soldiers “broken by age and war.” In 1682, the King commissioned Sir Christopher Wren, one of Britain’s most celebrated architects, to design this sanctuary for veteran soldiers. The site chosen was in Chelsea, adjacent to the River Thames, where an earlier of Charles’ projects, the huge but unfinished ‘Chelsey College’ stood. By 1692, the Royal Hospital opened its doors, welcoming the first 99 Chelsea Pensioners, and by the end of that year, several hundred veterans had made this their home.
Wren’s design, inspired by the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, initially featured Figure Court, which housed 412 veterans and their officers. As the need grew, Wren expanded his design to include Light Horse Court and College Court, ensuring the Royal Hospital could accommodate more residents. The Hospital’s early funding came from deductions from Army pay, which remained its main source of revenue until 1847.
Today, the Royal Hospital Chelsea remains a vibrant and active community, where the Chelsea Pensioners continue to serve as ambassadors of British military history and heritage. Their presence reminds us of the values of duty, loyalty, and service that are at the heart of the British Army and our national identity.“ (chelsea-pensioners.co.uk)
A contingent from the Army Cadet Force prepare for the Service of Remembrance at the Royal Hospital Chelsea yesterday.
“The ACF can trace its beginnings to 1859 when there was a threat of invasion by the French. The British Army was still heavily involved abroad after the Indian mutinies, and therefore had very few units in this country. The Volunteers were formed to repel the possible invasion. History was to repeat itself in 1940 during the Second World War when the Home Guard was formed to help counter a threatened invasion by the German Army.
Immediately following the formation of the Volunteers came the start of the Cadets. In 1860 at least eight schools had formed Volunteer companies for their senior boys and masters, and a number of volunteer units had started their own cadet companies. Typical of these were the Queen’s Westminster’s who placed their 35 Cadets at their head when they marched past Queen Victoria at her Hyde Park Review of the Volunteers in 1860.” (armycadets.com)
Today there are some 34,000 Cadets, aged 12 to 18, in the UK.
In the congregation yesterday were many retired servicemen and women including some from the French army and at least one from the American army, who had served in Vietnam. The Service concluded with the Collect for the Royal Hospital.
“O God, who by the overshadowing of an oak didst preserve our Royal Founder from the hands of his enemies and so lead him to an earthly throne, grant thy heavenly protection, we beseech thee, to thy servants in this Royal Hospital, that continuing in thy love, they may give thee true and loyal service, and so enduring to the end enter at the last into thine eternal kingdom in glory, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.”
Followed by the National Anthem.
A reader wrote to me:
“Please direct your readers to BBC Sounds and the former Bishop of Liverpool’s Thought for the Day, Radio 4 07.50 11.11.2024. He tells the story of Captain Noel Chavasse RAMC who died in 1917 at Ypres saving wounded men in no man’s land. He was the only VC and Bar in World War One,and one of only three ever. He died at Ypres in 1917 and is buried at Poperinghe. His remarkable gravestone carries two engraved VC insignia and is profoundly moving, and the message drawn from the story by the Bishop is profound and eternal. He was the son of an earlier Bishop of Liverpool and, like me, an old member of Trinity College Oxford. I had to stop the car to clear my tears.“