British Deaf History Society

A Deaf History in 50 Objects

The History Of The Life And Adventures Of Mr. Duncan Campbell By Daniel Defoe

Our copy in a gilt leather binding is of a rare book, The History of The Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell , which is claimed to have been written by Daniel Defoe and it was published in  1720. It was about a “Gentleman, who, tho’ Deaf and Dumb, writes down any Stranger’s name at first sight; with their future Contingencies of Fortune.” The book was purchased in 1998 from  Bernard Quaritch Ltd, antiquarian booksellers, by the BDHS.

 

 

Who was Duncan Campbell?

Duncan Campbell (1680?-1730) was a Scottish deaf man and an account of his early life claimed that he was brought up in Lapland where his Scottish father had wed a local woman. When his  mother died, his father and his family returned to Scotland where he wed again. In the early 18thc. Duncan Campbell claimed to be deaf and to have magical fortune-telling powers, which was  attracting a great deal of attention. He was described as a deaf mute who had learned to read following the method of John Wallis and made his name as a fortune-teller, dabbling in magic and 31  witchcraft. In 1694 he went to London where his predictions attracted attention in fashionable society. Running into debt, he went to Rotterdam where he enlisted as a soldier and returned to  London after a few years. When having taken a house in Monmouth Street, he read a wealthy young widow’s fortune, to his own benefit, and he found himself again a centre of attraction. He also  succeeded in obtaining the royal notice as it was reported in the Daily Post of Wednesday 4th May 1720: ‘Last Monday Mr. Campbell, the deaf and dumb gentleman—introduced by Colonel Carr—  kissed the king’s hand, and presented to his majesty “The History of his Life and Adventures”, which was by his majesty most graciously received.’

In 1726 Campbell appeared as a vendor of  miraculous medicines. He published The Friendly Dæmon; or, the Generous Apparition which consisted of two letters. In the first letter he wrote an account of his illness which had attacked him  in 1717. He described how nearly eight years later, when his good genius appeared, it revealed that he could be cured by the use of the lodestone. The second letter was about familiar spirits,  describing how a marvellous sympathetic powder had been brought back from the East. A postscript in the book informed the readers that ‘at Dr. Campbell’s house, in Buckingham Court, over  against Old Man’s Coffee House, at Charing Cross, they may be readily furnished with his “Pulvis Miraculosus,” and finest sort of Egyptian loadstones.’ Campbell died after a severe illness in 1730.

The history of the life and adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell has been frequently attributed to Daniel Defoe but there is little evidence that he wrote the book as the views expressed on the  supernatural in the book directly contradicted arguments Defoe had presented elsewhere. Also Defoe was unlikely to have his book published by his enemy Edmund Curll, the book’s publisher.  The book could be attributed to an anonymous writer, who was probably William Bond as he had then lived in the same house as Campbell in Exeter Court in the Strand.

The book has a  fingerspelling chart and description shown between pages 38 and 39 and the fingerspelled alphabet depicted shows many similarities with the current BSL fingerspelling.

Ear Trumpets

Ear horns and ear trumpets from the 1880s to the late 1930s pre-date the first hearing aids. They come in various shapes and sizes, some basic and some more advanced. The 1880 brass device  shown was quite sophisticated and was capable of magnifying sound. It was purchased from the Red Cross. The ear trumpet with rubber tube is from the 1920s – 1930s. It was donated by  Colchester Museum.

 

 

What were they used for?

In the old days before the use of hearing aids people with hearing loss, especially when related to age, struggled to hear so all sort of devices were  devised and invented.

Before the 1940s ear trumpets were tubular or funnel-shaped devices which helped to collect sound waves and lead them into the ear. They were used as hearing aids, thus  improving hearing for a deaf or hardof- hearing individual. The brass one shown is of simple design – a horn with an earpiece which could be fitted neatly in the ear. The ear trumpet with rubber  tube was more sophisticated with an earpiece at one end and a microphone at the another end. The user would ask the speakers to hold the microphone near mouths while they talked. This helped  to amplify sounds, enabling the user to hear only the speaker, cutting out the background noise and other speakers.

Several well-known people such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Ludwig van  Beethoven and King John VI of Portugal used ear trumpets. One of the well-known models of the 18thc. included the Townsend Trumpet (made by the deaf educator Dr. John Townsend).

A 19thc Pearlware Mug

 

A rare early 19th century child’s transfer decorated pearlware mug depicting fingerspelling, from the ex-West of England Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Exeter. It was purchased at an auction  in Newton Abbot in October 2015.

Why is it unusual? Why was the mug specifically made?

It was in 1827 that a charity founder, Mrs Charlotte Hippisley- Tuckfield realised that there was a need  for a school for deaf children so she wrote to the influential people in Devon persuading them that there was a great need for an education provision for deaf children in the region. Her  determination paid off at a historical meeting at the Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter on 6th April 1826, at which it was agreed that ‘an Institution be established in Exeter’. The West of England  Institution for the Deaf and Dumb was established in Topsham Road and the premises have stood on the Institution site since 1828.

The Topsham Road site, originally purchased from William  Hooper the creator of the suburb of St. Leonards, was chosen as it was in ‘good distance’ of Exeter and sat just within the tollgate boundary. The school started with just 6 pupils from both Devon  and Cornwall but this number soon rose and in 1829 there were 50 pupils on the roll. Travelling such distances by horse and cart meant the school has always been residential. The railway did not  make it to Exeter until 1844 so pupils would normally stay at school for six months, returning home for Christmas and summer. The school relied on fundraising and the generosity of local people  so one can assume that the mugs were specifically ordered and sold to raise funds for the school.

The school had been through a lot, survived two world wars and a number of health outbreaks in  the city including typhoid and, in 1832, cholera. Pupils and staff luckily survived the first cholera wave but sadly not the second, which produced 40 cases with three fatal. In 1902 King Edward VII  gave the school the “Royal” prefix. During the First World War the school staff became entirely female, with one exception, as many men went to fight. Staff at the time decided to continue the  men’s pay and reinstate them when they returned, though sadly three never did. In 1938 the school was renamed The Royal West of England School. During the Second World War, a bomb  exploded opposite the school damaging all classrooms and pupils were sent home for three months. Children from one London school were evacuated to Exeter and the swimming pool also did its  part for National Service, becoming a static water tank, only returning to normal use in the 1950s. In 2008 the school was renamed Exeter Royal Academy for Deaf Education

The Burwood Park School Roll Of Honour Board

A large full-length Burwood Park School display noticeboard with gilt lettering showed the list of Head Boys, Captains of Football, Captains of Cricket and Victor Ludorum holders of the title from  1955/56 to 1987/88. It came to the Deaf Museum with a large number of other materials when the school closed in 1991. The Board is doubly used as an exhibit as well as a means of partitioning  in the Museum.

What was Burwood Park School?

The Burwood Park School for boys was opened in 1955. It came about when Lady Patricia Lennox-Boyd heard from a friend that her sister, Mrs.  Heather Long, had a deaf son Michael who was home tutored as a place could not be found for him in a suitable secondary school. Lady Patricia Lennox-Boyd then realised that there would be  many other boys in a similar position so she consulted Professor and Lady Ewing of Manchester University, who advised on the preparations of founding a deaf school. The Guinness Family Trust  owned the mansion in Burwood Park, Walton – on-Thames, Surrey, which was then occupied by the Eagle Star Insurance Company. This building and its grounds were thought suitable for  conversion into a Secondary School for the Deaf. The school opened on 19th September 1955, with an intake of 35 boys aged from 11 to 16 from across the British Isles. Mr William E. Wood was the first Headmaster.

In 1959 the number of pupils rose to 45 boys. Over the years attempts were made to include girls, but until Woodford School closed in 1991 the Ministry of Education felt  that this was not appropriate. When Mr Wood retired in 1976, Mr Paul Green succeeded him. Then in 1981 Mr Desmond Thomas, who was then the Deputy Head, became Headmaster.

Mr  Thomas retired in the summer of 1986 and Mr Michael Kell became Headmaster. He introduced a new plan for the school which involved bringing in girls. The Ministry of Education finally  allowed the school to take in girls when Sir Winston Churchill School for the Deaf [formerly Woodford Green School] closed in 1991 and the number of pupils rose to 57, the highest ever. When the  school suddenly closed in December 1996 without or with very little notice, the number of pupils at school was 44 with 14 girls.

The British Deaf Times Magazine Volume 1, Issue 1.

 

This very first issue of the British Deaf Times as Vol. 1, Issue 1 [bound in a hardback book] was edited by Joseph Hepworth and George Frankland and published in December 1903.

Why was The  British Deaf Times published?

From 1889 to 1903 there was an unbroken line of magazines for the Deaf before The British Deaf Times appeared. The British Deaf and Dumb Times was first  published in June 1889, edited by Charles Gorham (1861-1922), a Deaf man from Leeds (who later became the first General Secretary of the British Deaf and Dumb Association). This became the  Deaf Chronicle in the autumn of 1891 and was re-named The British Deaf-Mute and Deaf Chronicle in November 1892. The name changed yet again in October 1896 to British Deaf Monthly before  it was known as The British Deaf Times from December 1903 until December 1954 when it was merged with Deaf News.

By 1954 The British Deaf Times and Deaf News had become two  very similar magazines, both with large circulations, so it was decided to merge these two magazines into one, to be titled British Deaf News (also known as BDN) under the sponsorship of the  British Deaf and Dumb Association.

Who was the editor Joseph Hepworth?

Born in Wakefield, Joseph Hepworth (1865-1921) was for a long time The British Deaf Times proprietor and editor. He  lost his hearing when he was eight, but retained his speech. He also suffered from the additional problem of being almost blind but fortunately his blindness went. Joseph’s father George had a  business making boilers. Joseph never went to a deaf school. When he was 22 he met a deaf house-painter and, knowing the manual alphabet, Hepworth conversed with him. “The Deaf man asked  him which school he went to and this surprised Joseph, as he was 26 unaware that there were many other deaf persons around; he often assumed there were no more than a dozen deaf  people in the whole of Britain!” This meeting led him to be more involved with people in the deaf community. Moving to Leeds, his eyes were opened to the educational needs of the deaf and he  began to work for the missioner Mr Moreton. After his association with Moreton Joseph became an assistant missioner to the Bolton and District Deaf and Dumb Society. Then In 1896 he was  appointed as Missioner to the Glamorgan and Monmouth Mission, with which he continued until his death.

His journalistic career ran alongside his mission work. He began on the Deaf Chronicle  with colleagues A.M. Cuttell, Charles Gorham, H.B. Beale and E.A. Kirk then the British Deaf Mute, which became The British Deaf Monthly and finally in 1902 The British Deaf Times. He  married a deaf lady, but little is known of her. He passed away in July 1921 at the age of 51 years and is buried in Cardiff Cemetery. 3 Peeps into the Deaf World by W. R. Roe.

Photograph of Joseph  Hepworth in Peeps into the Deaf World, p.343-5 (illus.)

 

 

 

The office of The British Deaf Times in the early 1900s.

Oak Fruit Wooden Bowl By Martin Dutton, The Lizardman

A Martin Dutton Yorkshire Oak Fruit Bowl hand tooled, the centre carved in relief with an armorial shield of three Tudor/Yorkshire style roses above a castle commemorating the 150 years  (1829-1979) of The Doncaster School of the Deaf. He signed the bowl by carving a lizard on the outer edge of the bowl. Anthony Boyce donated the bowl to the Deaf Museum and Archive in 2011.

Who is Martin Dutton?

A carved lizard signature in high relief on the outside edge

Martin Dutton, (1921-2009), known as the Lizardman, was born deaf in Kirby Misperton, Yorkshire. At the age of eight he was admitted into the Yorkshire Institution for  the Deaf and Dumb, Doncaster, where he learned his carpentry skills from his woodwork teacher, Mr. W. Baxter. He left in 1937.

His deafness did not restrict him from becoming an excellent  Yorkshire furniture maker and woodcarver. Martin started his woodworking career as an apprentice to Robert “Mouseman” Thompson along with four or five other deaf apprentices. He was the  most talented of the deaf workers. Thompson was famous for A carved lizard signature in high relief on the outside edge 24 signing his carved work with a mouse. This method of recording their  signatures on all pieces of their work was followed by all of Robert’s employees so Martin chose to sign with the design of a lizard. Actually his first trademark was a tortoise but because he realised  that, as he was carving legs, the tortoise was not an appropriate symbol so he chose the lizard symbol instead. Carving the lizard in relief into each piece of his work took all of four  minutes and it earned him the title of Lizardman. During his time at Kilburn he carved mainly chairs and furniture, using English oak.

Photos of Martin carving the wooden figure of St. Blaise

Over the years a number of trained staff left Thompson’s  employment to start up on their own so Martin followed their example and left the Thompson firm in 1950, setting up his own business in York. He made many oak articles for churches and  schools. One of his best works was a four foot figure of Saint Blaise, patron saint of woolcombers, which now stands in a Roman Catholic Church in Bradford.

In 1953 Martin married Marjorie  Lodge whom he knew from his early schooldays and they had two children. They moved to Doncaster when Martin accepted the appointment at his old school, The Yorkshire Residential School  for the Deaf, as Senior woodwork master. After seventeen years he fancied a change so moved to Barnsley to continue his wood-carving profession, with firms which specialised in church and  domestic furniture. He travelled to Wakefield to work for a firm that specialised in the making of expensive chairs. After three years this firm closed down and Martin moved to Leeds for two years  and then to York for five years before calling it a day. He and his wife were regulars at the York Deaf Club. He also made oak presentation bowls with the British Deaf and Dumb Association  emblem for its VIPs in England and abroad. In conjunction with the British Deaf Association Martin set up wood-carving courses in York and they were very popular and ran for a few years.

Martin gained a lifetime reputation for his skilled workmanship with his hands. He passed away peacefully on 12th November 2009 aged 87 years.

Photo of Martin carving a chest of drawers
Two examples of Martin’s handiworks sold by Ingnet, Specialist Dealers in Decorative Art.
With thanks to Ingnet for its kind permission in giving us information and allowing us to obtain print images.

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