Abbeyfield began in the London Borough of Bermondsey in 1956. Its founder was Major Carr-Gomm, who resigned his commission in the Coldstream Guards to start a charity caring for lonely elderly in the East End of London.

Abbeyfield was the name of the street where the first volunteers met, and the name commemorates a large and charitable medieval abbey which had been dissolved by King Henry VIII some four hundred years earlier.

Abbeyfield Houses Society of Canada was established in 1984 with Registered Charitable No. 13204 1013RR001 (Canada). The first House in Sidney, BC, was established in 1987. There are currently 40 Canadian Societies and 25 Houses operating or under construction.

In 1992 a group of senior citizens in Ottawa, Ontario began the Abbeyfield Houses Society of Ottawa because they found that many of their single peers led lonely, isolated lives.

The Abbeyfield concept was chosen because Abbeyfield houses had proven successful elsewhere in Canada. The Abbeyfield Houses Society of Ottawa recruited people who were familiar with the planning, construction and management of Abbeyfield Houses to serve on the Board of Directors.