Find out if your ancestor was in the London Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor.
Find out if your ancestor was in the London Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor.
The amount of detail for pupils changes over time, and maybe tantalisingly brief in some cases. You may be able to find the following information:
The London Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor was the first free public institution in England to provide for the education of deaf children of the poor, and the direct precursor to London’s Royal School for Deaf Children.
It was founded in 1792 by the Rev John Townsend, an Independent minister, who, having come into contact with a deaf child, realised that society was failing to offer opportunities for the deaf and that only the most affluent families could afford a private education for their children.
The school occupied several sites over its history, starting in Grange Road, Bermondsey in 1792 and moving to purpose-built building on the Old Kent Road, Southwark in 1809. It opened a branch for older pupils, outside London, in Margate, Kent in 1875, and later moved all pupils to the Margate site (in 1905). The Margate school closed in 2015. Although the school moved to more salubrious surroundings on the coast, many of its pupils still came from London and it retained a London office.
Its pupils either had congenital hearing loss (i.e. were entirely or partially deaf from birth) or acquired hearing loss (becoming deaf due to illness or accident). Congenital deafness can be hereditary but can also be caused by rubella (German measles) or other illness of the mother while a child is in utero. Controversially, towards the end of the 19th Century the School’s teaching practice switched from British Sign Language to the Oral Method, which is thought to have produced much less positive outcomes for pupils. Deafness is not a learning disability, and properly educated children should enjoy outcomes and opportunities akin to the rest of the population. In deaf culture, there is a clear sense that deafness is a differentiator but not a disability. Indeed, with congenital deafness, there is a pride in deaf history, and deaf historians love to find instances of ancestors being educated at the same school over the generations.
This small record set covers the early decades only of the Asylum’s existence, and is gathered from various publications. It does not purport to be a comprehensive record of all children who attended the school in these years, and some of the references to pupils are tantalisingly brief and allusive. However, it is hoped that it will be of value to those with deaf ancestry.