Research Enquiries

Most of the records relating to the Greenwich Pensioners and the Royal Hospital for Seamen are held at The National Archives, under the designation ADM (Admiralty, Navy, Royal Marines and Coastguard).

These include letters, account ledgers, estate ledgers, admissions, entry books, register of warrant officers, staff and out pensioner paybooks.

Recommended reading: Pieter van der Merwe, A Refuge for All (Greenwich, Greenwich Hospital, 1994)

Personnel and service records before c.1920 are held at The National Archives.

Personnel and service records after c.1920 are held at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom.

For general information on the Royal Navy you may wish to contact the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, or the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth.

Recommended reading: Harry Dickinson, Wisdom and War: The Royal Naval College Greenwich 1873-1998 (Ashgate, 2012)

Although historically connected to the Old Royal Naval College, the Royal Hospital School forms part of what is now the Queen's House, Royal Museums Greenwich. They have a page on their website about the Royal Hospital School.

There are also a number of records relating to the Royal Hospital School at The National Archives within the ADM series including registers of claims and candidates, applications and admissions and the apprenticing of boys and girls.

The Royal Hospital School continues to this day at its new location in Suffolk. You can contact their archivist Duncan Myatt via email: dmyatt@royalhospitalschool.org

Recommended reading: Val Horsler, The Royal Hospital School: Celebrating 300 years(Third Millennium Publishing, London, 2012)

The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU

Please call +44 (0) 20 8876 3444

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/contact

The Caird Library, National Maritime Museum, Park Row, Greenwich, London, SE10 9NF

Archive and Library: +44 (0)20 8312 6516, library@rmg.co.uk, http://www.rmg.co.uk/

Defence Academy Headquarters, Greenhill House, Shrivenham, Nr Swindon, Wiltshire, SN6 8LA, Telephone: 01793 785615, http://www.da.mod.uk/contact-us

The Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2RX
http://www.royalhospitalschool.org/

Royal Naval Museum, HM Naval Base (PP66), Portsmouth, PO1 3NH
Telephone: 023 9272 7562, library@nmrn.org.uk, www.royalnavalmuseum.org/research.htm

We do not hold a collection at the Old Royal Naval College and most objects on display are on loan.

As a heritage site we do not have the facilities to store and preserve historic artefacts, documents or images.

Our policy is therefore not to collect or accept donations of original material.

For any donations relating to the Royal Navy you may wish to contact the National Maritime Museum: Collections & Loans Registrar, National Maritime Museum, Park Row, Greenwich, London, SE10 9NF, registration@rmg.co.uk

We are always looking to gather more information about the people who lived and worked here in the past to support our interpretation of the site for visitors.

We are happy to accept photocopies or scans of any site historic information or research, which can be posted or emailed to the Learning and Interpretation Officer for inclusion in our secondary source archive.

Any donations of information or research will be gratefully accepted.

Collections and Archive Assistant, Old Royal Naval College, Foundation House, 2 Cutty Sark Gardens, Greenwich, London, SE10 9LW, info@ornc.org