Royal Star and Garter Home, Richmond

Riverside view from Twickenham bank

The Royal Star and Garter Home

The Bromhead Memorial, in the nearby Richmond Cemetery, commemorates deceased residents of the Home

Wick House, former home for the Star and Garter Home's nurses

The site is the location of the former Star and Garter Hotel, which closed in 1906. The building was used as a military hospital, known as the Star and Garter Home for Disabled Sailors and Soldiers, during World War I.[11]

The site was then donated to Queen Mary (consort of George V) in support of her plans to establish a home for paralysed and permanently disabled soldiers. The hotel banqueting hall and ballroom were temporarily used to house disabled soldiers, but they were found to be unsuitable for their specialised needs. Demolition of the hotel buildings commenced in 1919 and from 1920 to 1924 the home's residents were transferred to Sandgate, Kent, while the new Star and Garter Home for Disabled Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen was built on the site of the hotel.[11][12] The new building was dedicated in 1924 as the Women of the Empire's Memorial of the Great War.[13] It was formally opened by George V and Queen Mary on 10 July 1924.[14]

In 1948 residents of the home took part in a forerunner of the Paralympic Games, the first national athletic event for disabled athletes, organised by Dr Ludwig Guttmann.[15]

The Star and Garter Home received its royal charter in 1979, adding the prefix "Royal" to its name.[14] Since the opening of the second home at Solihull in 2008 the charity has used a plural form of the name, as "The Royal Star & Garter Homes".

Some of the residents who died at the home were buried in one of two dedicated sections in the nearby Richmond Cemetery. The cemetery contains two plots dedicated to deceased residents from the home, one of which is marked by the Bromhead Memorial, a large classical-style monument listing the names of those not commemorated elsewhere.[16]

Notable residents have included:

• Frederick Jeremiah Edwards (1894–1964), an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, who died at the home on 9 March 1964[17]
• Norman "Bill" Jewell (1913–2004), commander of the submarine HMS Seraph during Operation Mincemeat.[18] In 1998, he suffered a serious fall and was paralysed from the neck down. He then went to live at the home until his death on 18 August 2004 aged 90.
• Major David Mills (1918–1993), Secretary General of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club 1963–1979[19]
• Nancy Wake (1912–2011), who fought with the French Resistance and lived in the home from 2003 until her death.[20][21][22] She died on 7 August 2011, aged 98, at Kingston Hospital after being admitted with a chest infection.[23]

• Admiral Sir Barry Domvile, 1932–1934[24]
• Admiral of the Fleet Sir Caspar John, 1967–1972
• General Sir Charles Harington, 1972–1980
• Marshal of the RAF Sir Denis Spotswood, 1981–1985[25]

• Bromhead Memorial, denoting a plot in Richmond Cemetery in which deceased residents of the Royal Star and Garter Home are buried
• John Burn, honorary anaesthetist at the Star and Garter Home
• W. S. C. Copeman, consultant rheumatologist
• Wick House, Richmond Hill, which, from 1950, accommodated up to 20 nurses from the Royal Star and Garter Home

• The Royal Star & Garter Homes: official website
• Lost Hospitals of London: Royal Star and Garter Home
• Whyte, Catherine. "Tactical Retreat: The Royal Star & Garter", The Barnes Magazine, April 2013

• Fowler, Simon (1999). "The Valhalla of British Heroism: The early years of the Star and Garter Home". Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society. 20: 33–36. ISSN 0263-0958.
• Church, Judith M (2008). "The Royal Star and Garter Home on Richmond Hill". Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society. 29: 32–47. ISSN 0263-0958.
• Spencer, Steven (2009). ""Mr Scott may be very upset": Giles Gilbert Scott, Edwin Cooper and the Building of the Star and Garter Home". Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society. 30: 24–33. ISSN 0263-0958.
• Venus, Nigel; Willis, Patsy (2006). The Home on the Hill: The Story of the Royal Star and Garter Home, Richmond, for Disabled Ex-service Men and Women. Royal Star & Garter Home. ISBN 978-0952079323.