Refuge (United Kingdom charity)

Refuge is a United Kingdom charity providing support for female victims of domestic violence. Its main service is to maintain a national network of safe houses (refuges) to provide emergency accommodation for women and children, while it also provides outreach services for victims in the home, and operates the Freephone 24-Hour National Domestic Violence Helpline in partnership with Women's Aid.

The organisation was founded in 1972 as Chiswick Women’s Aid, by Erin Pizzey. It opened the world’s first refuge for women and children escaping domestic violence, in Chiswick, west London. In 1979 the organisation became a registered charity. In 1993, the charity changed its name to Refuge, reflecting its growing national status. This followed a funding crisis in 1992 when the charity faced closure, before Sandra Horley made a personal appeal to Diana, Princess of Wales who made a donation and several private visits to the charity's shelters, raising its profile.

In 1997 three of the charities trustees resigned in a controversy over one of their number's links to a group associated with false memory syndrome. In 1999, Sheryl Gascoigne launched a campaign for Refuge, after her high profile divorce in 1998 following domestic violence at the hands of footballer Paul Gascoigne.

In 2007, English actor Patrick Stewart was appointed the charity's patron, having witnessed his own mother fall victim to domestic violence during his childhood. In 2009 Refuge conducted a television campaign titled 4 Ways To Speak Out television, in partnership with the cosmetics company Avon.