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Stoke, Story, Staffs…
By H Dominic W Stiles, on 13 April 2012
In a previous entry we noted the role of A.J. Story in the start of the National Bureau for Promoting the General Welfare of the Deaf. Story was first head of the North Staffordshire School for the Blind and Deaf, sometimes known as the Stoke School for the Deaf. It was the first residential school for deaf children founded under the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act 1883, established in 1897 at The Mount, Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent. Below we see a lesson at the school in a curious outdoor classroom. (Fresh air was clearly considered to be stimulating, and there are other photographs in our collection that show outdoor classes.)
Outdoor class at Stoke School probably around 1920
Later the name was changed to the Mount School for the Deaf. While we do not have any of the school records, we do have a selection of records from the North Staffordshire Society for Promoting Spiritual and Temporal Welfare of the Adult Deaf & Dumb and of the Blind (1868-1911), which became the North Staffordshire Adult Deaf & Dumb Society for Promoting the Spiritual and Temporal Welfare of the Adult Deaf and Dumb, and the North Staffordshire Deaf and Dumb Society.
Staffs annual reports -and a striking image of 'The Glass Wall'
The North Stafford Blind and Deaf School, Stoke-on-Trent. British Deaf Monthly, 1897, 6(70), 228-230. (with photos of school and its first headmaster, A.J. Story)
Staffordshire Mission annual Reports – 1885, 1886, 1902, 1909, 1912, 1914/15, 1924/25, 1933/34, 1935/36-38/39, 1947/48-54/55, 1956/57-59/60, 1961/62, 1963/64, 1978/79-79/80
Photos in reports 1933/34-37/38, 1952/53, 1954/55, 1957/58-59/60
The Glass Wall – A Century of Progress 1868-1968
One Response to “Stoke, Story, Staffs…”
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