[ The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. ] Printed House of Commons paper on a proposed merger with Chelsea Hospital: 'Copies of Papers respecting the Proposed Abolition of the In-pension of Kilmainham Hospital. (Mr. Charles Wood.)'

38 + [1]pp., folio. Disbound. In fair condition, on aged paper, with the first leaf chipped and frayed at edges. Repaginated with a stamp 119-158. Kilmainham Hospital was a home for retired soldiers along the lines of Les Invalides, and much of the material in this paper consists of correspondence of Secretaries of State for War John Cam Hobhouse and Edward Ellice. The volume is a response to Hobhouse's proposal 'to bring into one building, and under one management, the several establishments of the in-pensioners of Chelsea and of Kilmainham hospitals. [...] These institutions are not peculiarly appropriated to the worn-out Irish soldier, or to the orphans of native Irish soldiers; and the institutions in England are open equally to the British and Irish soldier and orphan I am not, therefore, aware of any national reason for maintaining separate establishments under separate managements, at a very considerable increased expense to the public, for institutions which appear to be precisely similar in their objects.' Scarce: the only copy on COPAC at the National Library of Scotland.