Old soldiers' home Old soldiers' home An old soldiers' home is a military veteran's retirement home, nursing home, or hospital, or sometimes even an institution for the care of the widows and orphans of a nation's soldiers, sailors, and marines, etc. In the United Kingdom the Royal Hospital Chelsea was established by King Charles II in 1682 as a retreat for veterans. The provision of a hostel rather than the payment of pensions was inspired by Les Invalides in Paris. The Royal Hospital Chelsea, often called simply Chelsea Hospital, is a retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British
Royal London Hospital Cavell. There is the model of a church in the hospital that was built by Joseph Merrick who spent the last few years of his life at the hospital. The Royal London's archives contain documents dating back to 1740, including complete patient records since 1883. The collections are searchable on the Barts Health NHS Trust online catalogue, which contains information on over 50,000 entries and covering an 800-year span. Barts and the London NHS Trust, now absorbed into Barts Health NHS Trust, consists of four tertiary hospitals, St. Bartholomew's, the Royal London, Whipps Cross and Newham General, together producing some