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Abstract
This article utilises a case study of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind in York to argue for a more nuanced approach to the history of residential schooling. The early date of the school highlights both the novelty and ambition of its programme. The school's management and the opportunities it offered its pauper and working-class intake contradict the view of the institution as a site of social oppression. Nonetheless considerations of class, gender and funding are seen as dictating and circumscribing the curriculum. The role of the school in educating the wider public concerning the blind and their capabilities is also discussed.
Notes
[1] There was a gap of almost quarter of a century between the foundation of the Norwich school in 1805 and that of the York school in 1833.
[2] Institutions for the Blind are listed by date of foundation in the Report of the Royal Commission on the Blind, Deaf and Dumb &c. of the United Kingdom, Parliamentary Papers, vol.19 (1889).
[3] Interestingly, two were written by men with links to the WMSB: Charles Baker of the Yorkshire Institute for the Deaf and Dumb at Doncaster and Thomas Anderson who was briefly employed at York. CitationPhillips, The Blind in British Society, 64.
[4] On the recent origin of Disability Studies see Barton and Oliver, Disability Studies: Past Present and Future, ix.
[5] CitationBorsay, Disability and Social Policy in Britain since 1750, 14, 198.
[6] Borsay, Disability and Social Policy in Britain since 1750, 14, 198, 94.
[7] Borsay, Disability and Social Policy in Britain since 1750, 14, 198, 96–97.
[8] Borsay, Disability and Social Policy in Britain since 1750, 14, 198, 116. See also CitationHumphries and Gordon, Out of Sight.
[9] Dickens had used the fictional Dotheboys Hall to draw attention to the scandalous conditions he had observed in Yorkshire boarding schools during a tour of the region in 1838.
[10] Phillips, The Blind in British Society, 60.
[11] For an early formulation of the role of industrialisation in the formation of attitudes towards disability see CitationFinkelstein, Attitudes and Disabled People, 8–11.
[12] The social model of disability has been criticised for its neglect of the impact of wider cultural phenomena on the experience of disability. Critics argue that it fails to consider adequately the impact of factors such as gender, class, and the nature and degree of impairment on the individual's experience of disability. For a précis of these arguments see CitationBarnes, C. “A Legacy of Oppression: A History of Disability in Western Culture”, 9–10.
[13] Phillips, The Blind in British Society, 60.
[14] CitationOrange, “The Yorkshire Philosophical Society and the British Academy”, 4. For Harcourt's religious beliefs see CitationHilton, The Age of Atonement, 29–31. Hilton concludes that whilst Harcourt inhabited ‘an evangelical frame of reference’ he was not a true Evangelical.
[15] For the history of the British Association and Harcourt's role within it see CitationMorrell and Thackray, Gentlemen of Science and CitationMacLeod and Collins, The Parliament of Science. Harcourt's other educational projects included the foundation of the Yorkshire Museum and a reformatory.
[16] CitationReport of a Public Meeting in York, 25 November 1833, Wilberforce Memorial Papers.
[17] Report of a Public Meeting in York, 25 November 1833, Wilberforce Memorial Papers For an account of the role of schools in the ‘rational education’ of the wider public see CitationBergen, “The Public Examination of Deaf and Blind Children in Yorkshire, 1829–1890”.
[18] Count Rumford (1753–1814) is best known for his invention of the Rumford fireplace and his experiments in thermodynamics. During his time in Bavaria he helped establish workhouses, encouraged cultivation of the potato and invented a nutritious soup for the poor.
[19] His source was probably an article on the ‘Education of the Blind’ in the North American Review (Boston, 1833).
[20] His source was probably an article on the ‘Education of the Blind’ in the North American Review (Boston, 1833)
[21] His source was probably an article on the ‘Education of the Blind’ in the North American Review (Boston, 1833)
[22] His source was probably an article on the ‘Education of the Blind’ in the North American Review (Boston, 1833)
[23] CitationJohnson, “Educating the Educators: ‘Experts’ and the State 1833–9”, 94.
[24] Philanthropic tourism is discussed in CitationDekker, “Transforming the Nation and the Child; Philanthropy in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and England, c.1780– c.1850”.
[25] Further fruitless attempts to obtain a grant were made in 1843, 1844 and 1883.
[26] See CitationWright, Mental Disability in Victorian England.
[27] CitationHurt, Outside the Mainstream, 96. This compared with only £29 at the Glasgow institution.
[28] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1837, 3.
[29] This remained the case throughout the period in question. Alfred Hollins, product of a middle-class home, joined the school in 1875. He noted that ‘My schoolmates, with one or two exceptions, came from poor homes, and many were very rough’. CitationHollins, A Blind Musician Looks Back, 36. In 1876 a sub-committee reported that ‘nearly half of them are of the poorest class friendless and paid for by the Guardians of the poor and these if not in the School would be hopelessly condemned to the workhouse’.
[30] The rules were established by a general meeting of the Subscribers to the institution on the 26 March 1834.
[31] Yorkshire Gazette, 14 March 1840. The Revd Taylor left the school in 1845 for Worcester, where he was instrumental in founding both the Society for Providing Cheap Literature to the Blind and the Worcester College for the blind sons of gentlemen.
[32] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1837, 20.
[33] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1837, 20 The Kildare Society was an Irish society for the education of the poor. Hannah More was an evangelical and close connection of Wilberforce who wrote educational and moralising tracts for the poor.
[34] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1837, 20
[35] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1837, 18.
[36] Yorkshire Gazette, 14 March 1840.
[37] Lambert published an occasional newspaper for pupils at the school. For the story of ‘Blind Jack’ see CitationHogg, Blind Jack of Knaresborough.
[38] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1840, 3.
[39] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1837, 19.
[40] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1838, 4.
[41] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1845, 4.
[42] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1890, 7.
[43] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1851, 3.
[44] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1850, 3.
[45] CitationMinutes of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 11 June 1847 and 9 July 1847 refer to a ‘gift of tools to be purchased for a sum not exceeding one Guinea’. A Minute of 12 December 1850 refers to Henry Horner.
[46] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1882, 25.
[47] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1850, 6.
[48] The introduction of drill or physical education into the curriculum is often interpreted as evidence of a desire to control or discipline the bodies of disabled children. Whatever the motivation for its introduction, participation in drill provided pupils with exercise, and an element of variety and possibly even of fun.
[49] It would not be fair to compare the WMSB with Worcester College, which was a private institution catering for the sons of gentlemen, or with the Academy of Music at Norwood.
[50] CitationArmitage, “The Condition of the Blind”.
[51] Hollins, A Blind Musician, 54.
[52] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1856, 4.
[53] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1856, 4
[54] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1856, 4
[55] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1856, 4
[56] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1856, 4, 5.
[57] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1856, 4
[58] Littledale's resignation followed a scandal concerning the discovery of clandestine night-time gatherings of male and female pupils, the theft of money from a charity box and various allegations of mismanagement.
[59] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1861, 7.
[60] Letter from Revd Harcourt to unknown recipient, dated York 2 October 1861, bound with volume of Annual Reports for the 1860s.
[61] Letter from Revd Harcourt to unknown recipient, dated York 2 October 1861, bound with volume of Annual Reports for the 1860s
[62] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1862, 5.
[63] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1863, 3.
[64] Armitage, “The Condition of the Blind”.
[65] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1863, 3. By 1890 the number of workmen had risen to 22.
[66] Criticisms of the paternalistic nature of much social welfare provision, particularly that delivered by the schools, have particular validity when applied to the regulation of the adult blind.
[67] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1875, 4.
[68] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1867, 3.
[69] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1867, 3, 4.
[70] Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1872, 1.
[71] CitationPritchard, Education and the Handicapped, 44.
[72] It should be noted that Buckle did add the proviso that the education offered by schools in Europe and America was probably better still. State aid meant these institutions could afford better staffing ratios and the latest equipment. Annual Report of the Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind, 1874, 17.
[73] See CitationBell, An Experiment in Education.