CHELSEA, a western metropolitan borough of London, Eng land, bounded east by the city of Westminster, north-west by Kensington, south-west by Fulham, and south by the river Thames. Pop. Its chief thoroughfare is Sloane street, running south from Knightsbridge to Sloane square. From Chelsea King's road leads west, a commercial highway, named in honour of Charles II. and recalling the private road from St. James's palace to Fulham. The main roads south join with the Victoria or Chelsea, Albert and Battersea bridges over the Thames. The Chelsea embankment, planted with trees and lined with fine houses and, in part, with public gardens, stretches between Vic toria and Battersea bridges. The residential portion is eastern Chelsea near Sloane street and along the river.
Chelsea, especially the riverside district, has many historical associations. At Cealchythe a synod was held in 785. A similar name occurs in a Saxon charter of the 11th century and in Domes day; in the 16th century it is Chelcith. The later termination ey or ea was associated with the insular character of the land, and the prefix with a gravel bank (ceosol; cf. Chesil bank, Dorset shire) ; but the early suffix hythe commonly means a haven. The manor was originally in the possession of Westminster Abbey, but its history is fragmentary until Tudor times. Henry VIII. passed it to his wife Catharine Parr. It fell afterwards to the Howards and the Cheynes, and later to the Cadogans. The memorials in St. Luke's (the old church) include those of Sir Thomas More (d. ; Lord Bray, lord of the manor ; Lady Jane Guyldeford (15 5 5) ; Lord and Lady Dacre ; Sir John Lawrence (1638) ; Lady Jane Cheyne (1698) ; Francis Thomas, "director of the china porcelain manufactory, Lawrence Street, Chelsea" (17 70) ; Sir Hans Sloane (17 53) ; Thomas Shadwell, poet laureate (1692) ; Woodfall, the printer of Junius and many others.
In the i8th and i9th centuries Chelsea was a literary and artistic quarter. Atterbury and Swift lived in Church lane, Steele and Smollett in Monmouth house. Later, the names of Turner, Rossetti, Whistler, Leigh Hunt, Carlyle (whose house in Cheyne row is preserved as a public memorial), Lord Courtney, Count D'Orsay and Isambard Brunel, are connected with Chelsea. At Lindsey House Count Zinzendorf established a Moravian Society (c. 1750). Sir Robert Walpole's residence was extant till 181o; and till 1824 the bishops of Winchester had a palace in Cheyne walk. Queen's house (Tudor house) was the home of D. G. Rossetti.
Ranelagh (q.v.) in the second half of the 18th century, and Cremorne gardens (q.v.) in the middle of the i9th, were famous places of entertainment. Don Saltero's museum contained curi osities from Sir Hans Sloane's famous collections. Sloane gave the Apothecaries' Company ground for the Physick garden, which ceased in 1902 to be maintained by the company. The original Chelsea bun-house, claiming royal patronage, stood until and one of its successors until 1888. The porcelain works existed for some 25 years before 1769, when they were sold and removed to Derby.
Chelsea Royal hospital for invalid soldiers, initiated by Charles II. and opened in 1694 is well known. A system of out pensioning was found necessary from the outset, and it relieves large numbers throughout the empire. The picturesque building by Wren stands in extensive grounds, which include the former Ranelagh gardens. The duke of York's school was removed in 1909 to Dover. There are also the Whitelands and St. Mark's training colleges; the Victoria and the Cheyne hospitals for chil dren, a cancer hospital, the south-western polytechnic, and a pub lic library containing an excellent collection relative to local history.
The metropolitan borough of Chelsea returns one member to parliament.