The Disabled Soldiers and Sailors Homes were built by the Hackney Disabled Soldiers and Sailors Federation (also known as the War Seal (Hackney) Foundation. The scheme, inspired by Stoll's War Seal Mansions, was founded and carried out by George Francis James Macleod and Sir Louis Stanley Johnson, M.P., J.P.

Fund raising for the project had begun during WW1 (1914-1918). It was hoped to raise £50,000.

In June 1919 the search began for a site on which to build the homes. Proposals were made to buy land in Blackhorse Road, but the site was occupied by guns and searchlight stations. A plot of land in Wattisfield Road was purchased instead from Hackney Council.

The Homes were officially opened in 1923 by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. They consisted of a terrace of six 2-storey red brick cottages flanked at each end by a pair of semi-detached houses. The buildings provided homes for 10 disabled married ex-servicemen and their families.

In 1930 negotiations began again for the site in Blackhorse Road, but nothing came of them.

In 1970 the Disabled Soldiers' and Sailors' (Hackney) Foundation registered as a charity, whose purpose was to provide comfortable and low-cost dwellings in the Hackney area for disabled or infirm members of the armed services. Disabled people who had served in the police, postal, municipal and railway services were also eligible to apply.

In 2015 the charity merged with the Haig Housing Trust and was eventually deregistered in 2019.

Current status