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 Hospital Kilmainham the creation of the Irish Free State the Royal Hospital was considered as a potential home for Oireachtas Éireann, the new Irish national parliament. Eventually it was decided to keep parliament in its temporary home in Leinster House. The Hospital remained the home of a dwindling number of soldiers, before being variously used by the Garda Síochána and as a storage location for property belonging to the National Museum of Ireland. The large statue "Queen Victoria" which used to stand in the forecourt of Leinster House, before its removal in 1947, was stored in the main courtyard of the Hospital,