"The Royal Hospital (RH) was built near the site of the Palace of Placentia and erected by King William III (1650?1702) as a memorial for his consort, Queen Mary II (1662-94) who died of smallpox. It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) and functioned until 1870 as a hospital for retired mariners of the Royal Navy. The Dreadnought Hospital was the 'flagship' of the Seamen's Hospital Society (SHS) between 1870 and its closure in 1986. The SHS was a charitable foundation launched in 1821 to care for members of Britain's Mercantile Marine and later others also. Having been accommodated on three successive hospital ships, it moved to dry land in Greenwich in 1870. Between 1929 and the outbreak of war in 1939, the SHS published a Quarterly Magazine from which extracts highlighting Greenwich and these two major hospitals are brought together in this book."--Provided by the publisher.