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 Masonic Hospital without controversy. The hospital reopened in 2002 as the Ravenscourt Park Hospital within the NHS, but closed again in 2006. In 2012 it was stated that the building was being redeveloped by the C & C Alpha Group to house the London International Hospital (LIH), which would specialise in cancer and diseases of the heart and brain. In 2015 it was acquired by VPS Healthcare who proposed to reopen it as the 150-bed London International Hospital in 2017, which would be "the centre for tourists to travel to the capital city for state-of-the-art medical care". Royal Masonic Hospital The Royal