 Brinsworth House was built in 1850; it opened as a retirement home in 1911.It is owned and maintained by the Royal Variety Charity, which was founded in 1908 to care for members of, what was at that time, the variety and music hall profession.The charity and the house are funded by the Royal Variety Performance, by voluntary donations and, since 2007, by part-proceeds from phone voting from ITV's "Britain's Got Talent".