About Us

Key milestones

1919	The Ex-Servicemen's Welfare Society (now known as Combat Stress) is founded a year after the end of the First World War to rehabilitate Veterans suffering from "shell shock".
1920	An office in Central London and a recuperative home on Putney Hill are established to provide residential care.
1927	The charity sets up an "industrial colony" to provide better wages for Veterans and to provide funds to extend its activities. It develops and manufactures one of the first electric blankets to be sold in the UK.
1945	The charity acquires Tyrwhitt House in Leatherhead, Surrey, allowing Veterans further access to vital residential care in order to rebuild their lives.
1951	An office in Glasgow is opened.
1953	An office in Manchester is opened.
1982	A regional office is established in Belfast.
1985	The charity opens Hollybush House in Ayrshire, a residential centre North of the Border.
1996	Audley Court in Shropshire is purchased, providing a treatment base in the Midlands.
1999	Combat Stress undergoes a radical programme of organisational change. This includes the consolidation of its welfare services and the sale of Kingswood Grange: the charity's last long-term residential care home.
2000	Head Office relocates from Wimbledon to Tyrwhitt House in Leatherhead.
2003	HRH The Prince of Wales becomes Patron of Combat Stress.
2009	In its 90th year, with 4,200 Veterans in its care, Combat Stress launches a major new community outreach programme. Fellow Services charity, Help for Heroes, pledges £3.5 million towards the expansion, modernisation and re-organisation of Tyrwhitt House in Surrey.