Wounded Sailors and Soldiers in London during the First Dutch War, 1652-1654
Gregory Robinson describes how, in the days of Cromwell’s Protectorate the first English naval and military hospitals were established in London at the Savoy and at Ely House.
In one of his Naval Minutes written about the year 1694, Samuel Pepys complained that while provision had been made in the past for sick and wounded soldiers, none had ever been made for seamen. Here the great Secretary’s memory failed him for he should have heard how during the First Dutch War all hospitals were ordered to stand ready to receive seamen.
Under pressure of the growing need for hospital beds for wounded sailors and soldiers, Parliament passed a resolution on December 21st, 1652, ordering that half the accommodation in each hospital in England should be reserved for the wounded of the Navy.
In London on February 24th, 1653, at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital the Governors offered to receive fifty mariners immediately and on April 4th of that year the first group arrived. The largest number, however, was brought to the special hospitals of the Savoy and Ely House.
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