User:Jennybrain/Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution

The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution (RMBI) is one of the four Masonic Charities in England and Wales. The RMBI operates 17 care homes providing residential care, nursing care and dementia care. It also prvides sheltered accommodation, a care advice team, holidays and home improvement loans.

The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution’s roots started when United Grand Lodge of England inaugurated the Royal Masonic Benevolent Annuity Fund for men in 1842 and the Female Annuity Fund in 1849. The following year, 1850, the first Home was opened in East Croydon (pictured right), named the "Asylum for Worthy, Aged and Decayed Freemasons", and the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution (RMBI) was established. The Home remained in Croydon for over 100 years until 1955, when, due to the need for bigger premises, the Home was transferred to Harewood Court in Hove, East Sussex.

In the early 1960s, provision was extended to non-annuitants and, between 1960 and 1985, a further 14 Homes were set up or acquired around England and Wales. Four more Homes have been opened since then bringing the number of Homes run by the RMBI to 17.

Homes and Opening Dates

1955  Harewood Court, Hove, East Sussex

1966  Devonshire Court, Oadby, Leicestershire

1967  Scarbrough Court, Cramlington, Northumberland

1968  Prince George Duke of Kent Court, Chislehurst, Kent

1971  Connaught Court, Fulford, York

1973  Lord Harris Court, Sindlesham, Berkshire

1973  Albert Edward Prince of Wales Court, Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan

1977  Ecclesholme, Eccles, Manchester

1977  The Tithebarn, Great Crosby, Liverpool

1979  Queen Elizabeth Court, Llandudno, Conwy

1980  James Terry Court, Croydon, Surrey

1981  Cornwallis Court, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk

1983  Zetland Court, Bournemouth, Dorset

1985  Cadogan Court, Exeter, South Devon

1994  Prince Michael of Kent Court, Watford, Hertfordshire

1995  Shannon Court, Hindhead, Surrey

1996  Barford Court, Hove, East Sussex

1998  Prince Edward Duke of Kent Court, Braintree, Essex

2008  Scarbrough Court, Cramlington, Northumberland (re-built on the original site)

The RMBI Head Office is based in Freemasons’ Hall in Great Queen Street along with the Freemasons’ Grand Charity, the Masonic Samaritan Fund and the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys.