These pensions had been granted in every conceivable form during the pleasure of the Crown, for the life of the sovereign, for terms of years, for the life of the grantee, and for several lives in being or in reversion (Erskine May, Constitutional History of England).
By an act of 1806 an annuity of £5,000 per annum was conferred on Lord Nelson and his heirs in perpetuity.