Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Greenwich

GREENWICH, a market-town and parliamentary borough in the county of Kent, England, is pleasantly situated on the right bank of the Thames, 6 miles S.E of London Bridge by the river. The streets towards the river are narrow and irregular, but in the higher situations there are many fine terraces and villas. The town has manu factories of various kinds, including the works of the telegraph maintenance company, engineering works, soap work, chemical works, and a brewery. On account of its picturesque views, its fine air, and its public park and other attractions, it is one of the favourite resorts of Londoners. Fronting the river stands the splendid range of buildings in the Grecian style of architecture, formerly known as Greenwich Hospital, but now the Royal Naval College. It occupies the site of an ancient royal palace called Green wich house, which was a favourite royal residence as early as 1300, but was granted by Henry V. to Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, from whom it passed to Humphrey, duke of Gloucester ; and it did not revert to the crown till his death in 1433. It was the birthplace of Henry VIII., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth. The building was en larged by Edward IV,, by Henry VIII. , who made it his chief residence and named it Placentia, by James I;, and by Charles I., who erected the "Queen s House" for Henrietta Maria. Along with other royal palaces it was at the Revolution appropriated by the Protector, but it reverted to the crown on the restoration of Charles II., by whom it was pulled down, and the west wing of the present hospital was erected as part of an ext3nsive design which was not further carried out. In its unfinished state it was assigned by the patent of William and Mary to cer tain of the great officers of state, as commissioners for its conversion into a hospital for seamen. As it now stands, the building consists of four blocks. Behind a terrace j 860 feet in length, stretching along the river side, are the buildings erected in the time of Charles II. by Webb from Inigo Jones s designs, and in that of Queen Anne from designs by Sir Christopher Wren ; and behind these buildings are on the west those of King William and on the east those of Queen Mary, both from Wren s designs. In the King William range is the painted hall. Its walls and [ ceiling were painted by Sir Thomas Thornhill with various emblematic devices, and it is hung with portraits of the most distinguished admirals, and paintings of the chief naval battles of England. In the centre of the principal quadrangle of the hospital there is a statue of George II. by Rysbrack, sculptured out of a single block of marble taken from the French by Admiral Sir George Rooke. The oldest part of the building was in some measure rebuilt in 1811, and ths present chapel was erected to replace one destroyed by fire in 1779. The endowments of the hospital were increased at various periods from bequests and for- feited estates. Formerly 3000 retired seamen were boarded within it, and 5000 or 6000 others, called out-pensioners, i received stipends at various rates out of its funds ; but in 1865 an Act was passed empowering the Admiralty to grant liberal pensions in lieu of food and lodging to such of the inrrutes as were willing to quit the hospital, and in 1869 another Act was passed making their leaving on these conditions compulsory. It has since been devoted to the accommodation of the students of the Royal Naval College, for which purpose it was formally opened in 1873. Behind the College is the Royal Hospital School, where 1000 boys, sons of petty officers and seamen, are boarded. Another of the attractions of Greenwich is the park, 190 t acres in extent, in which is situated the Royal Observatory. It was enclosed by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, in 1433, and laid out by Charles II. It still contains a fine avenue of Spanish chestnuts planted in his time; and the hill rising towards the south commands a fine prospect over London, the Thames, ani the plains of Essex. The Royal Observa tory was built in 1675, for the advancement of naviga- tion and nautical astronomy. From it the exact time is conveyed at one o clock every day by electric current to London and all the other chief towns of the kingdom; and , English geographers reckon longitude from its meridian. Adjoining Greenwich Park is Blackheath, an open common much frequented by excursionists, and also used for golf and cricket. Greenwich possesses a considerable number of almshouses and other charitable foundations, among which may be mentioned Quean Elizabeth s College; Trinity Hospital, founded by Henry Howard, earl of Northampton, in 1613 ; the Jubilee Almshouses, founded by subscription of the inhabitants in 1809 in commemoration of the fiftieth anni versary of George III. ; the Green Coat School, the Grey Coat School, and the Orphan Girl s School. The parish church is dedicated to St Alphege, archbishop of Canter bury, who suffered martyrdom at Greenwich.

Greenwich is first noticed in the reign of Ethelred, when it was from 1011 to 1014 the station of the Danish fleet. It has been the place of debarkation of many illustrious personages, as well as in 1806; after the battle of Trafalgar, of the remains of Lord Nelson, which lay in state in the painted hall of the hospital previous to their removal for interment in St Paul s Cathedral. In 1577 it returned two burgesses to parliament, but it was not again represented till the same privilege was conferred on it by the Reform Act of 1832. The population of the parish in 1871 was 40,412. The population of the parliamentary borough whose limits were extended in 1868, and include the parishes of Charlton next Woolwich, Plumstead, and St Nicholas and St Paul, Deptford, and part of Woolwich is 169,361, and the area 8581 acres, of which 657 are in Surrey.