Veterans home's first female resident in 450 years

Maj Janet Brodie-Murphy and Capt Alan Gill BEM have moved into Lord Leycester Hospital

A historic home for veterans in Warwickshire has welcomed a female resident for the first time in its 450-year history.

After hosting 400 male residents, known as brethren, Warwick's Lord Leycester Hospital has selected Maj Janet Brodie-Murphy as the first woman to live there.

The former Women's Royal Army Corps member moved into the site with her partner Capt Alan Gill BEM.

The medieval Lord Leycester Hospital has been the home to a select number of veterans since the reign of Elizabeth I.

Maj Brodie-Murphy, 73, met her 72-year-old partner when they both lived at London’s Royal Hospital Chelsea.

The pair will join five other veterans who call the half-timbered buildings home.

Within the community they will be referred to as Brother Jan and Brother Alan - how residents would have been named in Tudor times.

“Being able to call somewhere like the Lord Leycester home is a huge honour and privilege," Maj Brodie-Murphy said.

"I’m keen to help raise the profile of this wonderful place and ensure that everyone knows its quite remarkable history and how significant it is - not just to veterans but to the country as a whole.”

Maj Brodie-Murphy and Capt Gill said the home was a "wonderful place to live"

Capt Gill, who served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, said he "fell in love" with the Lord Leycester Hospital - which has recently undergone a £5m transformation funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

“I’ll confess I didn’t know much about the Lord Leycester when I first came to Warwick, but on that visit I just thought it was magnificent," he said.

"I phoned Jan and told her all about it, and we thought it would just be a marvellous place to live.

"We’ve been made so welcome already and are looking forward to getting involved wholeheartedly in life at the Lord Leycester and Warwick.”

Heidi Meyer, the first female Master of the Lord Leycester, said welcoming the first female brother was "progress".

“We are an ancient organization founded to take care of wounded veterans in the Tudor age and we haven’t changed much - except now finally we have a female brother," she said.