From 1692 to 1955 all British army pensions were administered by and paid from the Royal Hospital Chelsea, which is why army pensioners tended to be known as Chelsea Pensioners.

There were two types of pensioners:

• 1. Those that surrendered their army pension and were admitted as residents of the Royal Hospital Chelsea;

  2. Those that lived out, in the UK or abroad, and received their pension in cash from agents around the country.