About Us

David Lewis (1822-1885) was a successful businessman who founded his first shop in Liverpool in 1856 and opened his second shop, a major retail department store, in Manchester 1880. He left his fortune to be used for the benefit of the working class people of Manchester and Liverpool and The David Lewis Trust was founded by Benn Wolfe Levy, one of his executors, on 7th July 1893. Two committees were established, one for Liverpool and one for Manchester. A group of people in Manchester who wished to provide facilities for people with epilepsy applied to the David Lewis Trust for support. This must have caught the imagination of the Manchester Committee who purchased the land and established the Sandlebridge Campus which they donated by Trust Deed on 8th September 1904. The David Lewis Centre accepted its first two residents on the 11th October 1904 with the one hundredth resident arriving on 27th July 1905 and the thousandth resident arriving on 13th May 1916.

From the beginning, the Centre operated a residential school for boys and girls on behalf of The Manchester Education Committee with 37 of the first 100 residents being schoolchildren. The Education Committee proceeded to build its own facilities at Soss Moss and the school transferred to this nearby facility in 1908. The David Lewis School opened in its own right in 1914.

During the last 100 years, the Centre has embraced a wide variety of political and social change and today aims to provide the highest quality of social, educational and medical care whilst promoting maximum independence and choice. Key aspects of the Centre’s work are aimed at helping children and young people achieve the transition from childhood to adulthood and assisting people of all ages to maximise their potential towards independent living in the community.