Descriptions of Battles by Sea & Land, in Two Volumes, From the Kings Library's at Greenwich & Chelsea. [Caricature of Greenwich and Chelsea pensioners]

A celebrated Dighton print of two battle-scarred veterans in animated conversation on a bench, for which the Museum also has what may be the original watercolour, signed and dated 'RD 1794', though there are slight differences (PAF5811). On the left sits a Greenwich Pensioner holding up a 'chalk' (clay pipe) in his raised right hand and a foaming pewter pot of ale on his lap with his left. He is missing his left eye, over which he wears a patch, and his left leg at or above the knee, replaced with a wooden peg-leg sticking out in front of him.

His red-coated Chelsea Pensioner friend, on the right, gestures with his right hand and is smoking his pipe. He is missing his left arm close to the shoulder, where his sleeve is bunched up, and has a walking stick resting between his knees. Both men wear cocked hats and are dressed in blue except for the red Chelsea coat. The Greenwich man wears a black stock, the Chelsea Pensioner a ruffled shirt-front and a visible pigtail. PAH3336 and PAG8545 are other copies.

Object Details

ID: PAD4733
Collection: Fine art
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Dighton, Robert
Date made: March 1801
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Mount: 225 mm x 170 mm
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