John Hawkins started his career at sea in the service of Queen Elizabeth I and today is sadly remembered more for his early activities in the “Triangular Trade” than he is for the pivotal role he played in the war against Spain and his development of the Fleet as Treasurer to the Navy. Hawkins a Rear Admiral at the Armada and for his services he was knighted by Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, and advanced to Vice Admiral. Appointed as Treasurer to the Navy he made his home at Chatham. Both Hawkins and his cousin Francis Drake were very concerned with the way in which the sailors of the British Fleet had been treated after the victory over the Spanish, with many sailors being discharged and left to fend for themselves back in civil life. In 1592 Hawkins and Drake founded the Chatham Chest, in effect the first pension scheme for the Royal Navy.

The Chatham Chest was situated at Chatham and sailors were asked to contribute a few pennies per month to the fund. If a sailor became injured and unfit to serve, they could make their way to Chatham and receive relief from the chest. It should be noted that the chest had several locks, this was because in the years to follow it was not unknown for the chest to be raided and by increasing the number of locks it was hoped that fraud could be avoided. This scheme continued until the early part of the 1800s when it was subsumed into a wider scheme managed by Greenwich Hospital.

Not satisfied with the Chatham Chest alone, Hawkins wanted to found an Alms House for what at the time he described as Shattered Shipwrights and Mangled Mariners. He approach his good friend Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, and by his good offices obtained a Royal Charter from the Hand of Queen Elizabeth I in 1594. Hawkins endowed the Almshouse with buildings that he owned at Keppel’s Hard and with the rents from properties in Essex and London. The Hospital has continued to exist on the same site ever since although the original buildings were replaced in the reign of George I and extended in the time reign of George IV.

The original Board of Governors consisted of twenty-six members, many members of the Board of the Admiralty. The most senior were the Lord High Admiral, The Archbishop of Canterbury and The Lord Warden of the Cinq Ports. Indeed, the original rules of the hospital required in pensioners to form up at the gate and say prayers if the hospital was passed by any of the senior governors.

The coat of Arms that form the great seal are those of Hawkins himself. Sadly, the original great seal was stolen by a highway man who went by the name of Hellfire Jack. Eventual caught and sentenced to death he met his end on the gallows on Chatham Hill. Before being given the drop he confessed to his crimes and stated where he had buried the great seal. Many have searched by no one has found; however, in the years to come some latter-day Time Team may still find it yet.

Hawkins died at sea not many years after founding the hospital and was buried at sea off Puerto Rico. The hospital stands today as his memorial and testimony to his compassion for the sailors of the Royal Navy. The hospital is the oldest Royal Navy Charity, founded exactly 100 years prior to Greenwich Hospital.

The Board today is comprised of eleven governors, the most senior remains the Lord High Admiral a title held by the Monarch. Her late Majesty was both Governor and Patron, although she did pass the title to the Duke of Edinburgh upon his ninetieth birthday. It reverted to the Queen upon his passing and upon the death of Her Majesty it passed to the King. The next most senior governor remains the Lord Warden of the Cinq Ports and when one reviews the list of title holders one must think that the board room table has been graced by Lord Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill, Her Majesty the Queen Mother and most recently Admiral of the Fleet the Lord Boyce. 

The hospital proudly displays in the board room portrait photographs of both Her Majesty the Queen Mother and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, both were signed whilst visits were paid to the hospital.

The Queen Mother visited in 1984 to re-open the hospital after a much-needed refurbishment. Her Majesty the Queen visited on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the granting of a Royal Charter by her esteemed namesake.

The buildings consist of two colonnades around a courtyard with a water pump as a central feature. To the rear is the George IV extension with a magnificent walled garden. The whole site is grade II listed and is at the epi centre of the Chatham Intra heritage zone. Directly opposite is the Chapel of Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital which was originally constructed by Bishop Gundulph who also oversaw the building of Rochester Cathedral, Rochester Castle and the White Tower at the Tower of London.

With the march out of the Royal Navy from Chatham in 1984 it became increasingly difficult to find needed pensioners from the Royal Navy alone and in consequence the entry criteria was changed and is now open to those ratings and other ranks of the three armed services and their reserves, workers from HM Dockyards, the three nursing services and those of the merchant navy who have served on operations with the Royal Navy (ships taken up from trade). The criteria are based upon a person falling upon hard times and is means tested.

Of the many who over the past four hundred and thirty odd years have benefited from the charity of Sir John Hawkins perhaps most notable are two sailors who served at the Battle of Copenhagen with Nelson, a Trafalgar resident, Henry Dawkins and Able Seaman who served aboard HMS Britannia on 21st October 1805 and one George Arthur Dickens, first cousin of Charles Dickens. George Dickens had served his working life in the Royal Navy and had retired as a Chief Bosuns Mate. Unlike his wealthy cousin, George found himself living in penury in Queen Street off the Brook in Chatham. For those who recall Chatham the Brook, and its surrounding streets were notorious for ale houses and prostitution, well what else would keep Jack happy!

Given Hawkins involvement with the “Triangular Trade” it is perhaps noteworthy that during the late Victorian era the hospital gave a home to Joshua Campbelton who had been born a slave in Bermuda. Joshua had signed on with the Royal Navy after being freed and rose to the rank of Warrant Officer. Upon retirement he found employment in Chatham Dockyard and was working on the building of HMS Achilles when he was involved in an accident that caused his to lose a leg. Having fallen upon hard times he was taken into the hospital as an in pensioner along with his wife.

The Governors of the Hospital of Sir John Hawkins are most grateful to the Chatham Naval Officers Association for their generous support over the past ten years.