My history blog looking at the experiences of Irish Deaf people in Irish schools, workhouses, courts, prisons and other institutions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Michael Ahearne was an ex-Cabra pupil from Dungarvan. His education in St Joseph's was funded by the local Board of Guardians, but it seems he left school before his education was finished.
Michael became a prolific offender when he returned home and was often up in front of the magistrates at the Dungarvan Petty Sessions, but he seemed well able to challenge the authorities in written English.
On one occasion in January 1900, Michael was charged with public drunkenness, and the policeman that arrested him - Constable Neill - stated in court that Michael had scratched his face and tried to bite others that helped bring him to the station, and as a result he had to be handcuffed on the street. It was stated in evidence that Michael "frothed at the mouth like a mad dog".
But Michael was not taking this lying down. He had the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses - including the prosecuting policmen. He wrote a question to another of the arresting policemen, Sgt. Creedon, asking if it was true that he used his baton on him that night. Creedon replied that he had - when Michael was gripping him "in the most determined fashion", Creedon had struck Michael on the knuckles. Maybe this contributed to Michael's anger - striking with a baton the fingers that he used to sign and write with, so central to the existence of a Deaf person.
Michael was sentenced to three months in prison and was eloquent in his anger at the court; he wrote to them, "Instruct the police in future to hunt the beasts off the roads and not me." Before he was taken from the court, he also wrote: "It is off to the war you should send me". This no doubt referred to the Boer War in South Africa, where Britain was putting down a rebellion of Afrikaner Boer settlers, a conflict that aroused great interest in Ireland. We can see here that despite his being Deaf and a regular 'troublemaker' for the courts, Michael kept up to date with international news.
Michael would continue to be a regular in front of the courts in Dungarvan. In 1944 he died in the Waterford Mental Hospital (now St Otteran's Hospital), having come at some stage before his death from the County Home in Dungarvan.
An interesting case arose in 1910 when an uneducated Deaf labourer in Kerry left a will, which became the subject of a complex court battle.
Cornelius Corcoran died in Sept 1907 in a townland named Laghtacallow, near Keel, Co. Kerry. He was about 74 years old and had not been educated. In 1901 he was living with his brother, Thomas Corcoran, his wife and family. Cornelius' will case reveals that he possessed quite a lot of money - about £3,000 (worth about €268,000) today! How had this poor labourer amassed this fortune? It seems Cornelius "had been always a poor labourer depending on charity" - until a brother of his who had made his fortune in Western Australia died in about 1900, leaving Cornelius and another brother in America a total of £4,000 between them.
But Cornelius did not have free rein over this money. The executors of his brother's will came from Australia to Kerry to meet with Cornelius, buit found that he "was unable to take care of the money".
It's not clear whether this was simply because he was Deaf; it may have been his illiteracy that also contributed. Either way, £2,200 was deposited with a solicitor in Tralee named Joseph Mangan, and from then on, £10 per month was paid out to cover 'maintenance' for Cornelius - possible through his other brother, Thomas, whom he lived with.
But apparently, when Cornelius was near death, Thomas went to the same solicitor in Tralee, and had a will drawn up for Cornelius - leaving everything to himself. This will was challenged in court in 1909 and through 1910 by two people - firstly, John Corcoran, another hearing brother of Cornelius; and Jeremiah Corcoran, a son of the American brother. Jeremiah's challenge to the will was stark: Cornelius "no doubt, assented to the document" but "as a matter of law ... was quite incapable of making a will. A person who was born a deaf mute, and who in addition was illiterate, was supposed by the law to be an idiot, and, therefore, incapable of making a will." This was a successful strategy; the will was thrown out (or 'condemned') "on the ground of want of due execution and want of testamentary capacity".
This story, to me, raises a few questions. Firstly, it seems to us grossly unfair that such a rule could be enough to throw out a will by a Deaf person in the first place. It should be mentioned that this didn't mean that all wills by Deaf people were condemned; the point generally had to be challengd, and if it could be proved that the Deaf person was intelligent, could read and write etc., then it would be executed as normal. It may be that Cornelius was not in this position, being uneducated, and probably completely illiterate - such a challenge could be raised.
But then, earlier on, we see that Cornelius had a will. We don't know enough from the newspaper summaries to say if this will represented his real wishes. It's possible that Thomas took advantage of Cornelius' situation to deliberately manipulate the will and have this considerable sum made out to himself; it's also possible that Thomas, with whom Cornelius lived with at least at one stage, was kind to Cornelius, perhaps managed his money well for him, and Cornelius had a genuine wish to repay him through the will. We just don't know enough. We know that the Australian executors didn't deem Cornelius able to manage his fortune by himself, and again, we don't know enough about this either, and whether it was a fair assessment or whether it arose from prejudice against Deaf people (particularly, poor illiterate Deaf people).
What is interesting is that Cornelius himself seemed, earlier on in his life, to be well capable of bringing a legal case himself. In 1880 the Petty Sessions in Milltown saw a case where Cornelius (described as a 'mute') sued a neighbour, William Cahill. The information about the case is sparse. It seems to have been for wages owed, of £1 5 shillings. A witness - 'Cornelius Corcoran, jun.' - is listed, probably his nephew, who may have interpreted or acted as intermediary for Cornelius, and the magistrates gave a decree for most of the sum - 17 shillings.
Once again, evidence is sparse; more may be out there in some archive, but for the moment it's hard to reach definite conclusions; but it's tempting to conclude that Cornelius knew right from wrong, was able to fight his corner by bringing a neighbour to court, and was possibly treated poorly by those closest to him later in life - deemed unfit to control his own money; manipulated into assenting to a will; and dehumanised by the archaic presumption of incapacity in the courts of the time.
Sources:
1901 Census, Laghtacallow - Census of Ireland 1901 online
Some workhouses at certain times had more than one Deaf inmate. Anne
McEneaney was a Deaf inmate in Carrickmacross workhouse - but she wasn't
the only one.
In 1909 a hearing woman, Bridget Finegan, who was living in Carrickmacross Union workhouse, brought Anne to the local Petty Sessions and accused her of throwing something at her head in the workhouse.
In court, one of the court staff wrote the evidence down for Anne. Anne replied "in a good hand" and cross-questioned Bridget; Anne had her own complaints - being 'interfered with' in the kitchen by Bridget and having milk stolen from her. The workhouse master was then examined; he felt that Anne was 'excitable' - because she was Deaf.
The official Petty Sessions order book states that the charge was proved, but the court felt that "having regard to the mental condition of defendant it is inexpedient to inflict any punishment" and dismissed the charge.
Carrickmacross Petty Sessions Order Book, 1909; source: www.findmypast.ie
Interestingly, Anne was declared by the workhouse master to be "not so bad as the dummy already committed to prison" in that same court recently. Who was the other Deaf person? Annie Eakins, who, the previous month, had been sentenced to three months imprisonment in Armagh gaol for assault and breaking glass in the workhouse. Both women were ex-pupils of St Mary's in Cabra - Anne McEnaney entered in 1881, and Annie Eakins in 1889.
Through
the course of my research, I've come across examples of places in
Ireland where Deaf education took place in the nineteenth century that
most people aren't aware of. Some of these are not necessarily Deaf
schools, but groups or classes within 'mainstream' schools. I've found
these in Tralee, Limerick - and one early example in Cork City. Of
course Cork City had a Deaf day school since 1822, as Graham O'Shea has
described in his excellent research. But it turns out that a school ran by a Cork teacher named Patrick Hennessy accepted Deaf pupils as well, according to newspaper advertisements of the time.
Hennessy's
school was established about 1823, and by 1839 was located in 18
Devonshire St, Cork City. The school delivered “commercial and
mathematical education", and was not specifically for Deaf children, but
by 1834, it was advertising its willingness to take on some deaf
pupils. Hennessy “from time to time, [had] successfully educated some
deaf and dumb Children" and "could accommodate a few Boarders of that
description, who would enjoy in his family domestic care and parental
kindness."
Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier,
30 December 1834, p. 1
It looks like this was similar to the 'parlour
boarder' system that other schools like Claremont had, where well-off
families paid for their deaf children to be educated in the family of
tutors. Certainly, Hennessy's advertising always emphasised that it was
for 'respectable' children. In 1837 Hennessy advertised that he had
"fitted one [deaf pupil] for the profession of a Civil Engineer - on
this point unquestionable references can be given."
Southern Reporter, 28 March 1837, p. 1
Significantly
though, the school did not seem to use sign language; Hennessy's Deaf
pupils were “not allowed to practise signs, mimickry or awkward
gesticulation as in other Schools". This may have been a dig at Patrick Kehoe's Cork
Day School, which was one that used sign language.
Southern Reporter,
25 July 1839, p. 3
Eight years later in
1847 it was still strongly emphasised that Hennessy’s “Mute Scholars are
initiated in a similar Course [as hearing pupils], and that too without
using symbolical or awkward gesticulations as practised in other
Schools."
Cork Examiner, 5 April 1847, p. 2.
Advertising
for the school in Cork newspapers ceased in 1848 as far as I can tell. I
don't yet have any names of Deaf pupils of Hennessy or any documents
about how the school was run - maybe some of you can follow this up!
Happy New Year and hope you all had a lovely Christmas.
I wanted to again say a massive THANK YOU to the Deaf community for being interested in and supporting my PhD thesis. It has been very important to me, from Day 1, that my research was shared with the community - as it is your history far more than mine - and since 2012, when I registered with TCD, I have tried to be open in terms of my process as well as the major findings, through ISL presentations in Dublin, Belfast, and elsewhere, as well as through my webpage and Facebook page.
Like I said in my earlier update: on 15 Dec I had my Viva interview with Dr Breda Carty and Dr Ciarán O'Neill, and I have to say I really enjoyed it! It wasn't as difficult as I was expecting! I passed with 'minor corrections' which means I now am Dr Cormac Leonard, but I still need to make some small amendments to the thesis before I submit it to Trinity College library in February some time - and after that it becomes public.
So what happens after this? Well, it's possible that I might start writing a few small papers and articles for historical journals and magazines, about some of the aspects of the thesis in more detail. It might have to wait until after my wedding and honeymoon, which will keep me busy until at least September 2023!
A lot of people have been asking me about publishing the thesis as a book. It's a bit too early really to talk about that, but I think if I did publish a book, I would want it to be slightly different than the thesis itself. But it's still a long way off before anything happens there. I realise that even if I publish, that it will still be inaccessible to many Deaf people as it's written in academic English - so I will keep thinking of ways in which I could make it more accessible. I will keep you posted on this.
Just to say that my Facebook page will still be active. I will change the name to "On This Day in Irish Deaf History" and I will continue to put up stories and vlogs from my research. I really have gathered a huge amount over the last 9 years and I do want to keep sharing it with the Irish Deaf community. I really hope it will encourage people to being research themselves and find new stories and new histories.
