Leonard Cheshire Disability

The charity was originally known as The Cheshire Foundation Homes for the Sick, and in 1976 became the Leonard Cheshire Foundation. In 2007 it rebranded to Leonard Cheshire Disability[3] and in 2018 its brand and logotype were simplified to Leonard Cheshire.[4][5]

Group Captain Leonard Cheshire started the charity in 1948 when he took a dying man, who had nowhere else to go, into his own home: a country house called Le Court near Liss in Hampshire.[6] By the summer of 1949, Le Court had 24 residents with complex needs, illnesses and impairments. As awareness of Leonard's work spread, he started to receive referrals from the NHS and local communities rallied to his cause, building homes for disabled people living in their own local area.[6] By 1955 there were six Cheshire homes in Britain. The first overseas Cheshire Home was established in Mumbai, India, in 1956.[7] By 1992 there were 270 homes in 49 countries.[8]

Each of these "Cheshire Homes", as they came to be called, were similarly set up: local communities came forward, assembled a group of volunteers, found whatever suitable accommodation they could, set up administrative committees and began raising funds for development. This gave each Cheshire Home a local structure closely knit to the community they were serving, while being affiliated with an international organization.

The homes and services in the UK and Isle of Man are run by the UK charity. Over 200 other Cheshire homes and organisations around the world exist, run independently but affiliated to a Leonard Cheshire Global Alliance.[9]

The UK charity is headquartered in London and its main stated objectives are "to provide effective and efficient community-based services to disabled people that respond to their preferences" and to "campaign in partnership with disabled people, allies and supporters for a society that provides equality to disabled people."[10]

Leonard Cheshire provides support to disabled people through a variety of services including care at home, residential care and training and skills programmes. It describes itself as "the UK's leading voluntary sector provider of support services for disabled people". Its goal is to change attitudes to disability and to serve disabled people around the world.[11]

The charity's activities are particularly focused on guiding and encouraging the disabled to move toward independence and live life their way. It formerly ran the Ability International Media Awards, recognising disabled people in the media.[12]

The Ryder-Cheshire Mission[13] was set up by Leonard Cheshire and his wife Sue Ryder at the time of their marriage in 1959, and later became the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation which operated until 2010.[14] Other related former charities include Target Tuberculosis, operating in India and certain countries of Africa (2003–2016).[15]

The rehabilitation of disabled people was supported through Ryder-Cheshire Volunteers, founded in 1986, which is now the Enrych charity.[16][17]

The Leonard Cheshire Disability & Inclusive Development Centre is a joint project by Leonard Cheshire Disability and University College London (originally set up in 1997 as the Leonard Cheshire Centre of Conflict Recovery).[18] The centre is dedicated to generating applied research on disability in development, with particular emphasis on poverty and economic development in terms of livelihoods, inclusive education and public health. Centre staff also work closely on policy issues at a global level, serving in an advisory capacity to a number of UN agencies (including UNDESA, UNICEF, ILO, World Bank) and bilateral organisations (including DFID, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)). The centre is based in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London.

Cheshire founded the Raphael Pilgrimage to support sick and disabled people to travel to Lourdes.[19]

Sue Ryder Care, a charity founded in 1953 by Sue Ryder, before she met Leonard Cheshire, was one of the 50 largest charities in the UK in 2008.[20]

In 2001, Paul Darke resigned from the role of national advocacy officer and from the public affairs committee, and bought the domain name www.leonard-cheshire.com to highlight the charity's role in institutionalising those with disabilities and neglecting those in their care.[21]

He stated that 'the main reason you cease to be a Leonard Cheshire service user is death' and that charity donations would pay for 'private medical insurance of senior directors and management get-togethers costing £10,000 a weekend'.[22] After a heated debate on BBC Radio 4, as well as 50,000 hits on the website, Leonard Cheshire submitted a complaint to the World Intellectual Property Organization.[23] WIPO ruled that Darke has no right or legitimate interest in the domain name; and that it has been registered and used by him in bad faith.[24]

The charity rebranded to Leonard Cheshire Disability in 2007, and the domain name is unused as of September 2020. The case has been cited in a law textbook.[25]

• Group Captain Lord Leonard Cheshire VC, OM. WWII RAF Group Captain, humanitarian and founder of Leonard Cheshire.
• Lord Justice Alfred Denning, English lawyer and judge was the first chairman of Leonard Cheshire 1952-1961[26]
• Geoffrey Chevalier Cheshire, English Barrister, law academic and father of Group Captain Cheshire was the second chairman 1961-1964[27]
• Hon. Justice Edmund Davies, third chairman 1964-1974[28]
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, WWII fighter pilot and senior RAF commander was fourth Chairman 1974-1982[29]
• General Sir Geoffrey Howlett, former Commander in Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe was sixth chairman, 1990-1995[30]
• Diplomat Sir David Goodall, seventh chairman 1995-2000[31]
• Diplomat Sir Nigel Broomfield, ninth chairman 2005-2009[32]
• British technologist Ilyas Khan, tenth chairman 2009-2015[33]
• Bryan Dutton, Director-General 1998 to 2008[34]
• John Knight CBE, British disability rights campaigner and public policy analyst, Leonard Cheshire’s first Head of Policy in 1999.[35]

• Cheshire Home, Chung Hom Kok
• Blesma, The Limbless Veterans, charity supporting disabled ex-service men and women

• Morris, Richard. Cheshire: The Biography of Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM. London: Viking Press, 2000. ISBN 0-670-86735-7.
• Mantle, Jonathan. The Story of Leonard Cheshire Disability. London: James & James, 2008. ISBN 1903942950
• Cheshire, Leonard. The Hidden World. London: William Collins Sons & Co Ltd. 1981. ISBN 0-00-626479-4.

• Official website