The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability is located in London Borough of Wandsworth.
The Royal Hospital is an independent medical charity that provides rehabilitation and long term care to people with complex neurological disabilities caused by damage to the brain or other parts of the nervous system. This damage is often caused by traffic accidents and progressive neurological conditions such as Huntington’s disease and multiple sclerosis. It is one of the 200 largest UK charitable organisations ranked by annual expenditure.
The Hospital was established in July 1854 at a meeting held at the Mansion House, chaired by the Lord Mayor of London. The hospital’s founder, Andrew Reed, had a record as a practical philanthropist, having previously set up four other charities, and Charles Dickens, the celebrated author, was one of the first high-profile figures to show his support by helping Reed raise funds for it.
The RHN was originally known as the Hospital for Incurables. It was based in a converted workhouse in Carshalton, Surrey, but as demand for its services grew, larger premises were required, and in 1857 it moved to a more spacious house in Putney. Just a few years later, even more space was needed and so in 1863 the hospital relocated to its permanent home, Melrose Hall on West Hill, in Putney.
Melrose Hall had originally been designed for John Anthony Rucker by the architect Jesse Gibson. It came with 24 acres of land on which, until the 1960s, the hospital ran a working farm, supplying fresh produce for patients’ meals. The Hall also had extensive gardens, parts of which had been landscaped by Capability Brown.
In 1917, the hospital changed its name to the Royal Hospital and Home for Incurables, receiving its Royal Charter two years later. The hospital’s name changed a further two times – once in 1988, when it became the Royal Hospital and Home, Putney, and again, in 1995, to the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability - a name that better reflected its work.
