The illustration on the front of the pamphlet showing Queen Victoria fingerspelling to a deaf woman was by Henry Ash whose dream was to create, promote and publish booklets on sign language and fingerspelling which he hoped would appeal to the general public. He designed and published this pamphlet. This pamphlet is part of the National Deaf Club Collection donated to the Deaf Museum in 2015.
To whom was Queen Victoria talking?
Queen Victoria was in the habit of visiting in the Isle of Wight a deaf woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Tuffield, a daughter of a schoolmaster on the Isle of Wight, who was ill and bedridden. The Queen used fingerspelling to communicate with and comfort the woman. In this pamphlet Henry Ash had copied the deaf William Agnew’s “Royal Condescension” painting for the cover and included the fingerspelling alphabet in the contents of the pamphlet.
Who was Henry Ash?
Henry was born in 1863 in Bridgewater, Somerset, and was a son of a struggling coach-painter. He lost his hearing at eighteen months old from scarlet fever. The family moved from London to Swindon but, as his father could not find employment, the family faced poverty so they had to return to London. At the age of eleven years old he was sent to the Old Kent Road Asylum and then to Margate where he was happy. In 1877 he returned to the Old Kent Road Asylum where he remained until he left school. Five months before leaving school he began to study French as he had an interest in learning foreign languages, studying after school hours. He was unable to find an apprenticeship post so had to work with his father in a coach-building firm. n 1880 Ash was introduced to the Rev. Samuel Smith who was able to find him a job as a draughtsman. Unfortunately the job did not last long as the trade had dropped off but his manager managed to find employment for him with a city bookbinder, designing book covers and engravings.
In 1883 he attended an Art School in Regent Street, London, and then Professor P. H. Delamotte, a former drawing teacher to the Prince of Wales’ children, saw his samples of wallpaper designs and was so impressed that he gave Henry a free permit to attend the School of Art in King’s College, London, to study figure drawing as well as trying other artistic avenues. In 1886 he married a deaf lady and obtained a job as a pen and ink artist with Mr. Dawson at Hogarth’s Work in Chiswick, London.
In one of his Comic Graphics pamphlets he said that, “The late King Edward VII was able to converse with his deaf and dumb subjects in the finger and sign language.”