Old soldiers' home in the ranks before receiving a commission. The site for the Royal Hospital was an area of Chelsea which held an incomplete building "Chelsey College", a theological college James I founded in 1609. The Royal Hospital opened its doors to the Chelsea Pensioners in 1692 for "the relief and succour" of veterans. Some of the first soldiers admitted included those injured at the Battle of Sedgemoor. The hospital maintains a 'military-based culture which puts a premium on comradeship'. The in-pensioners are formed into three companies, each headed by a Captain of Invalids (an ex-Army officer responsible for the 'day to
Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases is a small, specialist NHS hospital in the centre of Bath. Since 2015 it is run by the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust. The building frontage uses Royal Mineral Water Hospital, a previous name. Still known locally as "The Min", it is officially the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases. It is a Grade II* listed building. From the 16th century the needs of the "deserving poor" who came to take the healing waters of the Roman Baths were recognised and an act of 1597