The hospitals / [W.I. Bicknell].

  • Bicknell, W. I
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The hospitals / [W.I. Bicknell]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    two thousand three hundred and eighty-one beds for the pensioners; the whole under the care of one hundred and seventy nurses. The provisions in this noble establishment ate of the best qualitj’^, and liberal in quantity. Each inmate is allowed, per week, seven one pound loaves, three pounds of beef, two of mutton, a pint of peas, a pound and a quarter of cheese, two ounces of butter, fourteen quarts of good home- brewed beer, and a shilling for tobacco money; besides which, once in two years, each pensioner receives a suit of blue clothes, a hat, three pair of stockings, two pair of shoes, five neck-cloths, three shirts, and two night-caps. These neces- saries of life, the advantages of religious instruction, the use of an extensive library of books, and a mind exempted from all care, should prepare these veterans for enduring a coniict still more important and personal, than any through which they may have passed, either at Camperdown, Aboukir, Trafalgar, or elsewhere. The out-pensioners, about thirty-two thousand in number, receive from £4 „ 11s. /, 3d. to £27 n 7s. ,/ 6cl. each, annually, regulated by the time of service, and other cir- cumstances. King Charles’s ward, which is over the library, is open every day to the inspection of visitors, and will claim the admiration of every lover of cleanliness, ventila- tion, and comfort. The guide showing these dormitories will expect the small gratuity ot 6d. A charge of 2d. is also made for inspecting the chapel. Such fees, improper in churches and national buildings generally, may, perhaps, here be tolerated, as contributing to the comfort of these worn-out sons of Neptune. In the rear of the hospital is the infirmary, wholly devoted to the sick and bed ridden. The number of pensioners in the