John William Lashford

It is a unusual to be able to tell the story of a 19^th century child, especially using his own words. John William Lashford sadly lived only until he was 19, and his life and writings were later recorded by his headmaster, William Sleight. John William Lashford was born at Portland Street, Brighton in 1829, to John and Mary Lashford, and was profoundly deaf.

When he was admitted to the Brighton Institution for the Deaf in 1842, aged 13, he was also non-verbal. William Sleight prevailed on the Committee to admit John William even though he was older than the rules of the institution allowed for new pupils. Sleight was a pioneer in the education of deaf children, and developed a method of sign language to teach non-verbal children language skills, enabling them to write and communicate with non-signing people. He was also a deeply religious man who believed that his pupils should receive religious instruction.

John William’s two younger brothers, Frederick and Benjamin died in 1841 and 1843. When Benjamin died, John William visited his parents at Woburn Place, Brighton, and Sleight recounted that he comforted his parents using sign language and by pointing to passages in a hymn book to show that his brother’s soul had gone to Heaven. Sleight did not mention that Woburn Place was, in the 1840s a street desperately in need of clean drinking water and sanitation, ^[i]G.S.Jenks. Report on the sanitary state of the residences of the labouring classes in the town of Brighton and on the causes and prevention of fever. but preferred rather to emphasize the Lashfords’ spiritual needs. William Sleight’s biography^[ii]William Sleight. A voice from the Dumb: a memoir of John William Lashford, late a pupil of the Brighton and Sussex Institution for the deaf and dumb. Brighton 1849 of John William Lashford was written and published the year after the boy’s death from tuberculosis. The text is in part a typical sentimental Victorian account of the poor and unfortunate, and with a print run of more that 2,000, was a useful tool for William Sleight to raise funds for his school. It is however, also a touching demonstration of the regard William Sleight had for his star pupil. It includes transcripts of letters written by John William including this one, when aged 14, he was spending a summer holiday with his aunt in Balcombe:

“My dear Matron
I am happy to write a letter to you. I have a pen. I am happy you are reading in it. I did go the church with Benjamin J and other some bad men laughed in it; and the clergyman taught to the people and other some men nodded at him. I was climbing up to in a tree to see some oxen leaped over a hedge, to ran to under trees in rain. A farmer took some hares out of traps, and killed them. Cousins were glad to me was coming from Brighton. They went to Mrs S. I was happy to see her. I am very well. I cannot catch many hares. they ran into holes. E.S was falling off the stool, and tore chin with the nail of the corner shelf, and I was help to take up her, and she wept. M. gave snuff to me and I was snuffing my nose, and I was sneezing and make my nose bleed; she was laughing at me. Chickens sprang out of the broken eggs, they lay in the wings of a hen as warm. I was bowing to two ladies; and one of them gave four-pence to me and I was thanking her.
I remain your affectionate son
J.W.Lashford”

Other transcripts of letters in the book demonstrate his progress with language, his increasing moral awareness, and his great piety. All these qualities were demonstrated to readers who were potential donors to the school.

In 1842, John William had joined the school in increasingly cramped premises at 12 Egremont Place, and Sleight set about raising funds for a new school at the corner of Eastern Road and College Place, into which the school moved in 1848. William Sleight tempted more sponsors by setting up ‘examinations’ where students were involved in public demonstrations of their abilities and to which the Press were invited. John William Lashford took part in these examinations, which are described in the memoir. John William also wrote of his pleasure in drawing lessons given by the artist, William Booty Snr, his friendships with ladies who visited the school, and accounts of some of his fellow pupils. William Sleight, on judging that John William’s declining health would not allow him to leave the school and learn a trade, agreed that he should remain at the school and teach. Sadly in 1848, John William died at his parents’ house in Cambridge Street, Brighton.
William Sleight served as headmaster of the school for over 70 years, until his death in 1912. In 1947, the school moved to Ovingdean Hall, and remained Ovingdean Hall School for Deaf Children, until 2010, when it finally closed.

Please note that terms included in the sources for this article were in use in the 19^th century, but no longer reflect the way in which hearing impairment is perceived or non -verbal people are educated and respected.