Few charities can trace their roots back to one single act of kindness, one truly charitable gesture, but Leonard Cheshire Disability can.

In May 1948, Group Captain Lord Cheshire of Woodhall, by then a famous war hero, was living alone in an isolated mansion in Hampshire winding up a community project for ex servicemen and women which he had started at the end of the war. Discovering that one of the former members of the community was terminally ill and had nowhere to go, he offered to care for him in his own home.

Before long, other people came to him for help and his home in Hampshire soon became the first Cheshire Home. From this small beginning grew an organization inspired by Leonard Cheshire’s vision that disabled people should be able to live with dignity, choice and independence. These values remain at the heart of our work today and our plans for the future.

Milestones along the way

• 1948 – First residential care home opens in Le Court, Hampshire
• 1955 – International home opens near Mumbai (Bombay) India
• 1976 – Charity begins its work in the area of independent and supported living
• 1991 – The Queen opens first acquired brain injury unit
• 2006 – Redevelopment of a number of our residential care homes begins