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?
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.
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.
