What
The Museum of the Royal Hospital Chelsea (RHC), reflects the history of its site – the residential home of the Chelsea Pensioners. The RHC was founded by Charles II in 1682 “as a place of refuge and shelter for such Land Soldiers as are or shall be old, lame or infirm in the service of the Crown”.
In-pensioners (as they are correctly termed) have been resident since 1692. Today, nearly 300 in-pensioners live there, including six women.
Opened
The museum was established as an artefact display in the Great Hall in 1866. It moved to its current location in the Secretary block in 1960 and reopened after a major refit in 2001.
“The whole site is our museum,” says John Rochester, the regimental quartermaster sergeant (compliance), whose duties include health and safety, risk management and curatorial activities.
Collection
“The RHC’s collection illustrates 320 years of unbroken service to the nation, army and local community,” Rochester says. “The art collection is spread across the site and focuses on the buildings, occupants and personalities associated with the hospital, particularly those of the monarchy and the in-pensioners.
The entrance to the museum is dedicated to the memory of the Duke of Wellington, and displays a variety of objects associated with or contemporaneous to him.”
The hall is dominated by George Jones’s panorama of the Battle of Waterloo, which is flanked by six captured French imperial eagles.
A contemporary painting of Elizabeth II by Andrew Festing hangs opposite the Iron Duke. Leading from the hall, the gallery contains the main museum displays and exhibitions that illustrate the long history of the Royal Hospital.
The long wards, where the in-pensioners live, are not open to the public, so there is a reconstruction of a typical berth.
Help at hand
Rochester, as curator, and a deputy curator; five in-pensioner attendants; a part-time archivist; and two in-pensioner research assistants.
Budget
The museum is financed by the Royal Hospital Chelsea and grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Defence.
Highlights
Rochester singles out the Sovereign’s mace, which was presented to the hospital by the Queen in 2002. It is carried on ceremonial parades at the RHC and elsewhere and equates to the colour, standard or guidon of the regiments and corps of the army.
Rochester says: “It’s not only a fabulous item, but what it represents means more to me – the bond of allegiance to the Crown that the serviceman has.”
Visitors
15,000 per year. Entry is free. Visitors are guided around by an in-pensioner.
Survival tip
“We complement the National Army Museum next door by telling the story of the RHC and its people, not of the army,” says Rochester.
“The RHC has an inclination to utilise its ultimate exhibit, the in-pensioners themselves, but is acutely aware that it is the organisation and the buildings that provide the backdrop to the story and so needs to integrate all the disparate aspects of the story in order to tell it in its entirety.”
Current projects
The RHC is introducing interactive terminals to enhance the visitor experience in the museum. And it is digitising its archives to improve their preservation, create better access and support income-generation initiatives.
www.chelsea-pensioners.org.uk
The Museum of the Royal Hospital Chelsea (RHC), reflects the history of its site – the residential home of the Chelsea Pensioners. The RHC was founded by Charles II in 1682 “as a place of refuge and shelter for such Land Soldiers as are or shall be old, lame or infirm in the service of the Crown”.
In-pensioners (as they are correctly termed) have been resident since 1692. Today, nearly 300 in-pensioners live there, including six women.
Opened
The museum was established as an artefact display in the Great Hall in 1866. It moved to its current location in the Secretary block in 1960 and reopened after a major refit in 2001.
“The whole site is our museum,” says John Rochester, the regimental quartermaster sergeant (compliance), whose duties include health and safety, risk management and curatorial activities.
Collection
“The RHC’s collection illustrates 320 years of unbroken service to the nation, army and local community,” Rochester says. “The art collection is spread across the site and focuses on the buildings, occupants and personalities associated with the hospital, particularly those of the monarchy and the in-pensioners.
The entrance to the museum is dedicated to the memory of the Duke of Wellington, and displays a variety of objects associated with or contemporaneous to him.”
The hall is dominated by George Jones’s panorama of the Battle of Waterloo, which is flanked by six captured French imperial eagles.
A contemporary painting of Elizabeth II by Andrew Festing hangs opposite the Iron Duke. Leading from the hall, the gallery contains the main museum displays and exhibitions that illustrate the long history of the Royal Hospital.
The long wards, where the in-pensioners live, are not open to the public, so there is a reconstruction of a typical berth.
Help at hand
Rochester, as curator, and a deputy curator; five in-pensioner attendants; a part-time archivist; and two in-pensioner research assistants.
Budget
The museum is financed by the Royal Hospital Chelsea and grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Defence.
Highlights
Rochester singles out the Sovereign’s mace, which was presented to the hospital by the Queen in 2002. It is carried on ceremonial parades at the RHC and elsewhere and equates to the colour, standard or guidon of the regiments and corps of the army.
Rochester says: “It’s not only a fabulous item, but what it represents means more to me – the bond of allegiance to the Crown that the serviceman has.”
Visitors
15,000 per year. Entry is free. Visitors are guided around by an in-pensioner.
Survival tip
“We complement the National Army Museum next door by telling the story of the RHC and its people, not of the army,” says Rochester.
“The RHC has an inclination to utilise its ultimate exhibit, the in-pensioners themselves, but is acutely aware that it is the organisation and the buildings that provide the backdrop to the story and so needs to integrate all the disparate aspects of the story in order to tell it in its entirety.”
Current projects
The RHC is introducing interactive terminals to enhance the visitor experience in the museum. And it is digitising its archives to improve their preservation, create better access and support income-generation initiatives.
www.chelsea-pensioners.org.uk