Royal Hospital public house

CXXXVIII.—"ROYAL HOSPITAL" PUBLIC HOUSE, FRANKLIN'S ROW (Demolished).

Franklin's Row occupied the eastern side of Burton's Court, south of Garden Row. It is said to have derived its name from Thomas Franklin who in 1681 (fn. 1) was amerced £1 "for ploughing up a piece of pasture ground at the bottom of the College Hill, between the college land and the meadow." He retrieved his fault by the presentation of "two handsome brass chandeliers" to the parish church, on which were, according to Faulkner, (fn. 2) the following curiously spelt inscriptions:—

This. tow. bransches. is. a. gift. to. the
Parish. Church. of. Schelsey. by.
Thomas. Frankling. and. Ester. his.
wif. ano. Domny. 1693.

and

This is a gift to Chelchey Church
December 1692. T.E.F.

These were stolen when the church was broken into in 1827. (fn. 3)

Mr. Walter W. Burgess made an etching showing the picturesque appearance of the Row. At its southern end, and at the corner of Royal Hospital Row was the Royal Hospital Public House. The building was plastered and coloured white, and it had a large bay window projecting from the first floor. The adjoining house overhung the pathway, its upper floor being supported on iron pillars, and had an old tiled roof with dormer windows. Together they made a picturesque group. The Inn can just be seen in Wilkie's picture of the reception of the news of the victory of Waterloo by the Chelsea pensioners, a drawing which gives a valuable topographical record of the alehouses ranged along the Royal Hospital Road.

Old prints, views, etc.

(fn. 4) Water colour drawing by Philip Norman.
Etching by Walter W. Burgess, Bits of Old Chelsea (1893).
Drawing in The "Chelsea Mail" Annual (1902).

In the Council's ms. collection are:—

Two photographs of the Inn.