In his will dated 1681, Robert Daniel, a London merchant,  left £2,000 with the instruction to his executors that they should buy land and, after ten years, use the accumulated income for the erection and endowment of almshouses.  These were to be built within 10 miles of London and would support six men and four women aged 50 years or more.

To this end, in 1688 a freehold estate of 110 acres was purchased at North Aston, Oxfordshire, and a further 10 acres in Stoke Lyne.

In 1727 the plans to build an almshouse in Hendon were approved by Chancery.

The almshouses were finally built two years later at a cost of £425 10 shillings (£425.50) and opened in 1729 on Lady Day (25th March), but with only seven occupants.

  In 1781 the number of inmates was increased to ten, who each received a weekly stipend of 3 shillings (15p), a shilling loaf at Christmas and a coat or gown of grey cloth (faced and edged with orange baize) every second year.

From May 1786 until April 1799 there were 12 inmates, presumably two married couples.

Despite Daniel’s stipulation, the almshouses sometimes accommodated more women than men. At the beginning of 1820 the occupants were eight women and two men.

The almshouses were rebuilt around 1800.

In 1806 the women’s pensions were increased to 4 shillings (20p) a week (funds were low and it was thought that the men were more capable of supporting themselves by labour than the women).  The men had to wait until 1818 for their increase.

In 1854 the buildings were extensively repaired.

By the end of the 19th century the funds were running short, but Elizabeth Holm, who died in 1890, bequeathed £30,000 to such charities as her executors chose.  In 1892 the almshouses became the first to benefit, being endowed with £6,100 stock after the buildings had been repaired at the expense of the Holm estate.

In 1910 the Daniel and Holm charities were merged with the Nicoll and Holm charities, which managed Nicoll's Almshouses in Mill Hill, thus providing 16 almshouses jointly for those who had resided in Hendon for five years or more.  The almshouses were named the Nicholl and Daniel Homes.

In 1935 a detached portion of the land purchased for Daniel’s endowment at Stoke Lyne, Oxon, was sold.  (The remainder of the Oxfordshire land was sold in 1959 and the money invested.)

The building was Grade II listed in 1950.

During the late 1950s the almshouses were modernised.

Current status