ABSTRACT
During the Nine Years' War a variety of military hospitals were established in overseas theatres of operations staffed and equipped for the care and treatment of soldiers falling sick or suffering injuries. During the Civil Wars they contributed a significant service to the sick and wounded of Parliament's army and their involvement in such work did not cease with Restoration. Indeed, the admission and care of sick and wounded seamen and soldiers became a major element of their day-to-day work. The hospitals had suffered a considerable drop in their income from rents as a result of the Great Fire of 1666 and, as years passed, increasing demands placed upon them by the steady influx of service patients contributed in no small way to their straitened financial circumstances. It is currently impossible to make accurate comparisons with the known figures for St Bartholomew's Hospital although it might appear, superficially, that St Bartholomew's Hospital received redominantly soldier patients and St Thomas' sailors.
