Hennessy's School in Cork - Deaf Children in a 'Mainstream' School?

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!

January 2023: Update!

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.

 

Without the Deaf community and ISL, I wouldn't have a subject to research. I wouldn't have a career as an interpreter. I wouldn't have met my fiancée (who is an interpreter) either! Again, a massive thank you to Dr John Bosco Conama and Dr Patrick Geoghegan for their wonderful supervision over the years.

 

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.

 

That's all for now. Thanks very much.

 

I've passed my PhD Viva with minor corrections!

This morning, I had my PhD thesis Viva with Trinity College Dublin internal examiner Dr Ciarán O'Neill, and external examiner Dr Breda Carty. I passed the viva (with minor corrections) and am now Dr Cormac Leonard (which is nice).

 

It's wonderful that this took place the day after National ISL Day!

 

I want to sincerely thank ALL of you for the interest you have shown in my work, from reading my blog posts and watching my videos, to attending my presentations online or onsite. Without the engagement I have received from the Deaf community I don't think I could have (or should have!) undertaken this project at all. 

 

It has been hugely heartening to see the people and experiences I have helped to uncover be of so much interest to people in the Irish Deaf community. Thank you all so much. 

 

My thesis needs some small corrections and will be available from TCD library sometime in February!

130 Years Ago ... A Longford Deaf Man, Charged with Murdering his Mother - and Committed to an Asylum

A shocking case from 1892 where an uneducated Deaf man killed his own mother.

 

 

 Catherine Kean (or Keane, or Kane) was an 80 year old widow living in Fostragh, Co. Longford, a small townland near Aughnacliffe and near the Cavan border. She lived with her son John Kean, who seemed to have been uneducated, and never to have attended school.

 

On 8 June 1892 John attacked his mother with a knife. According to an RIC report, the motive seems to have been that John wanted money to buy clothes but Catherine refused. It seemed unlikely that such a small matter would have led to a homicide; perhaps communication difficulties or mistreatment of John contributed also, but the fact is that we will never know - for reasons which shall become clear. 

 

A summary description of the death of Catherine Kean by the Royal Irish Constabulary. Source: Outrage Reports, 1892, National Archives of Ireland.

 

 John fled from the scene and his mother died 11 days after the attack. John was arrested in Cavan and on 1 July was committed to Sligo Prison until the next Leinster Assizes court hearing in Wicklow.

 

Sligo Jail. Source: https://www.sligogaol.ie/general

 

John Kean in the Sligo Prison records in 1892. Source: www.FindMyPast.ie

 

 

Source: Irish Independent, 2 December 1892, p. 6

When the Assizes opened in early December, the presiding judge drew the jury's attention to an important fact He described John Kean as "wholly illiterate ... unable to speak in any of those various modes by which modern science has shown that knowledge can be conveyed to an unfortunate person in his condition." This patronising tone and reference to 'speech' is misleading; the judge was referring to the fact that John could not hear, speak, read, write or - apparently - sign, all of which methods could be used in court to answer an indictment and put in a plea. John needed to be able to understand the evidence against him - without this, the trial could not continue.

 

Because this was in doubt, a separate jury had to be sworn to determine if John was "sufficiently sane to understand the nature of the charge against him, and the pleadings connected with the charge". This was not a straightforward examination of 'sanity' in the sense of mental health, but an examination of whether John could understand the charges, the evidence, and the proceedings.

 

 

Source: Irish Times, 10 December 1892

John's brother Bernard was called as a witness and said that John "did not understand the deaf and dumb alphabet" and "was never at school", but he could "communicate with him so as to make him understand what he wanted him to do in the way of work".

 

It seemed Bernard was not confident enough to be able to interpret the court proceedings for John, nor was this course of action even suggested. The Sligo prison medical officer also suggested that John was "of weak intellect and incapable of understanding the character of the crime with which he was charged".

 

 

Overall, the jury found that John was incapable of pleading - either guilty or not guilty. It was impossible to find out from John what had happened, why, whether he admitted to killing his mother or not. 

 

 

 

 

 

As was the case at the time for so-called 'criminal lunatics', John was committed to a lunatic asylum - the Dundrum Criminal Lunatic Asylum. (This was since renamed the Dundrum Central Mental Hospital, and was recently closed down a few months ago.)

 

A drawing of the Dundrum Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Source: https://www.crimeinmind.co.uk/ctshowcase-team-member/1845-dundrum-hospital/

 

 

John is mentioned in the state Report on asylums in 1893, and was still in Dundrum in 1901 and is recorded in the Census of Ireland. 

 

An anonymised mention of John Kean in the 42nd Report of Inspectors of Lunatics (Ireland) in 1893.

 

John Kean in the 1901 Census of Ireland, in the Dundrum Criminal Lunatic Asylum. (Line 70)

 

Between 1901 and 1911 he was transferred to the lunatic asylum in Mullingar nearer to his family:

John Kean in the 1911 Census of Ireland - Mullingar Lunatic Asylum. (Line 826) Please note - John was never married - the description of 'widower' is inaccurate.

 

 

 

He died in 1915:

John's death certificate, 1915. Source: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1915/05272/4463466.pdf

 

One wonders how different his trial would have been had John been sent to a Deaf school, giving him language and literacy to communicate; maybe the crime would never be committed at all.

120 Years Ago ... A Tragic Accident: the Death of a Child of Belfast Deaf Parents

Warning: this post may be upsetting to read for some people.

 

John Creaney and Mary Ellen (or just Ellen) Connell were a Belfast Deaf couple who had married in 1901. Both had attended the Cabra schools.

 

Ellen was originally from Co. Cavan, and in 1901, lived on Brougham St; she worked as a smoother in a laundry.

 

Census of Ireland 1901: Brougham St, Belfast. Source: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Duncairn_Ward/Brougham_Street/957010/

 

John worked as a tailor, and in 1901 lived in an interesting household on Lisbon St. The head of the house was Sarah Jane Park Ervine, mother of future Belfast playwright John Greer Ervine. John Creaney was one of four Deaf boarders with the Ervines at Lisbon St, and the house contained Deaf members of the Church of Ireland, Catholics and a Presbyterian. Kate McGoldrick, a Deaf Catholic woman also boarding with the Ervines in 1901, was a witness at their 1901 wedding. (John had been married twice before, but his previous wives had passed away.)

 

Census of Ireland 1901: Lisbon St, Belfast. Source:http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Pottinger/Lisbon_Street/1214931/

 

When they married they ended up living at 12 Well Street, and in October of 1902 Ellen gave birth to a daughter, Honoria, born in their home. But tragedy struck when Honoria was six weeks old - the child died, and an inquest was held to find out what had happened.

 

1902 civil birth and death records for Honoria Creany. Source: www.irishgenealogy.ie

 

The inquest used the services of an interpreter named J. Stewart. Stewart would have used Northern Irish variant of BSL, but John and Ellen may have been familiar with BSL from living with Protestant boarders and socialising in the Belfast Deaf community. (John and Ellen were listed since at least 1914 as Catholic "Members and Adherents of the Mission Hall" in Belfast for Deaf adults, the members being mostly Church of Ireland and Presbyterian, but a substantial minority of Catholics.) Also present was the Superintendent of the Belfast Deaf Mission - Francis Maginn. He may have present as an emotional support to the Creaneys in this most distressing time, or even acted as a Deaf interpreter, working between Stewart's BSL to Irish Sign Language

 

Source: Irish News and Belfast Morning News, 3 December 1902, p. 6. Note that Honoria's name is misspelled in the report as 'Ferona'.

 

Ellen was called upon to give evidence; after this, it was decided that the child had died "due to suffocation ... the result of being overlain". It is not clear from the very short articles in the press exactly how this happened but it seems it was purely accidental.

 

The couple remained involved in the wider Belfast Deaf community and the Mission Hall. In 1911 they were living at Woodstock St, Belfast, with their second child, son Conner. Connor would grow up to become an important interpreter in Northern Ireland.

 

Source: Mission Hall for the Adult Deaf and Dumb Report, 1924.

Census of Ireland 1911: Woodstock St, Belfast. Source: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Down/Pottinger__part_of_/Woodstock_Street/219655/

An example of the interpreting work of Conor John Creaney, son of John and Ellen. Source: Belfast Telegraph 16 January 1961, p. 12.

 

109 Years Ago: a Deaf Workhouse Inmate complains about her treatment

 

 

The workhouse building in Carrickmacross where Anna Eakins spent several years. Source: https://brenspeedie.blogspot.com/2013/08/from-land-wars-to-civil-war-brief.html

 

 In 1913 in Carrickmacross Workhouse, disagreements between some female inmates led to the Board of Guardians seeking to bring one of them to court - as it happened, a Deaf inmate: Anna Eakins.

Source: Petty Sessions Order Books, Carrickmacross Petty Sessions, 1913. www.findmypast.ie

 

Ellen McCaul (hearing) accused Anna Eakins (Deaf) of assault - threatening her with a sweeping brush, and later, throwing a chamber pot's contents over her. Another hearing woman named Meegan made similar complaints. But there was another side to the story, and we get a glimpse of it through a long letter that Anna wrote for the court which was read out.

Source: Dundalk Democrat, 29 November 1913, p. 14

 Anna complained that McCaul and Meegan called her names and mocked her, but it was from jealousy that Anna had a good relationship with the workhouse Master and the nuns that worked in the workhouse hospital, and was given manageable work by them. In particular, Anna was scathing about McCaul; she apparently was in the habit of bringing scraps of food into the workhouse (including rotten fish) and hiding them under her mattress, causing a horrible smell in the dormitory where they all slept, which was "so evil-smelling that the rats and crows coming into the yard could not bear to go near them". Anna was afraid to go to prison, and stated that "jail is an awful place"; when she had been there before she "had no bed or no sleep, awful what they would give you to eat". Nevertheless she was resigned to her fate: "Send me to jail for a fortnight, that is enough, or forgive me."

Source: Dundalk Democrat, 29 November 1913, p. 14

The case was adjourned for three months and Anna was warned to be on good behaviour.

Deaf People Seeking Jobs in 1885 and 1922

Two short advertisements in national newspapers from Deaf people seeking employment. 

 

In the 1885 advertisement, a local clergyman advertises to see if anyone has a job for a Deaf woman (who had been to the Claremont school for Protestant Deaf children): "A CLERGYMAN desires a situation for a deaf mute as parlour maid. She thoroughly understands her duties, and is remarkably intelligent. Trained at Claremont Institution. Apply to Rector, Castlebellingham."

 

 

In the 1922 ad, a Deaf man seeks a job as a coatmaker and describes himself as "first class" at this work: "TAILORING — Young Man, deaf mute, seeks situatlon: first class coatmaker. Box: 3300."

 

Sources: Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, 28 November 1885; Irish Independent, 28 November 1922.

The Generosity of Two Deaf Wexford Men

Deaf people in Ireland did not only receive charity - they contributed to it.

Painting is called "Heinrich XVII, Prince Reuß, on the side of the 5th Squadron I Guards Dragoon Regiment at Mars-la-Tour, 16 August 1870" by Emil Hünten, 1902. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mars-la-Tour

 

In 1870, Prussia and France went to war. The Franco-Prussian war was one of the moves towards a unified German Empire. But the world was shocked at some of the cruel behaviour of the Prussian troops in France. Collections were made around Ireland to assist the injured French troops.

Source: Wexford People 24 September 1870, p. 7

 

 Among those who contributed in Wexford - two Deaf men, William Hendrick and Nicholas Brien. They each contributed 1 shilling 6 pence. William had entered the Prospect School in Glasnevin in 1854. Nicholas entered St Joseph's in 1864.

Source: Wexford People 24 September 1870, p. 7

Old Lisnaskea Workhouse - Reluctant to Send the Deaf Children to be Educated?

 The old Lisnaskea Workhouse, Co. Fermanagh. It is now mostly derelict and surrounded by the Lakeview housing estate.

Lisnaskea workhouse - old entrance block

Not many deaf children were sent to Cabra from Lisnaskea Union - just four before 1914:

• Catherine Clarke (1895)
• Owen McCaffrey (1910)
• Rose A. Cosgrave (1911) - all paid for by the Lisnaskea Board of Guardians
  
• Ellen Murphy, sent by her family in 1899.

This may be because the Lisnaskea guardians may have been reluctant to pay for their local poor deaf children to educated. In 1905, a local Protestant churchman applied for the Lisnaskea Guardians to send young Henry Delmore to the Ulster Institution for the Deaf and Blind.

But one Guardian - named Plunkett - disagreed. He said that the Church should cover the costs, not the Union (although hundreds of deaf children had been sent and paid for by Poor Law Unions in the preceding decades). The Board finally agreed to pay just £5 a year for Henry's fees, and for a limited time.

A few years previously in 1899 Plunkett had raised a similar objection to another deaf child and again suggested the clergyman should pay.

Sources: Freemans Journal, 1 March 1899, p. 8; Fermanagh Herald, 5 August 1905, p. 8.
More information on Lisnaskea Workhouse: https://workhouses.org.uk/Lisnaskea/

Old Lisnaskea workhouse, old entrance block

Old Lisnaskea workhouse, side of old accommodation block

Old Lisnaskea workhouse, rear - old accommodation block

Old Lisnaskea workhouse, rear - old accommodation block

Old Lisnaskea workhouse, rear of old entrance block

Old Lisnaskea workhouse, between entrance and accommodation blocks

Cornelius Flahavan: a Deaf Life On the Road (DHC Conference)

 

On 14 August I presented for the Deaf Heritage Centre's online conference. Have a look at my presentation by clicking above.

Clogher Workhouse, Co Tyrone: a Deaf Wanderer Decides to Stay

Clogher Workhouse (now derelict), Aug 2021.

Many people assume (wrongly) that people were forced to enter the workhouse and were not allowed to leave. However, sometimes, it was the opposite.

Clogher Workhouse - Entrance Block, Aug 2021

 

In 1913, a 'deaf and dumb' man was admitted to Clogher workhouse. The night he was admitted, he burned all his own clothes. Then, he wrote on a slip of paper and gave it to the workhouse master; he asked for a new outfit of workhouse clothes, cap, boots and a shirt. "I like to stop here", he added. 

Clogher Workhouse (now derelict), Aug 2021.

 

However the Board of Guardians of Clogher Union were not too keen that he stay. The man was given work to do and the Master tried to get him to leave the house within a week. 

 

Source: Freemans Journal, 4 November 1913, p. 4

Source: Ulster Herald, 8 November 1913, p. 13

 

More information: http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Clogher/ 

#deafhistory #irishhistory #workhouses

Mullingar Workhouse: A Deaf Boy's Evidence

 

Old entrance block, Mullingar Workhouse (now St Mary's Care Centre) - built 1841

The old Mullingar Workhouse (now St. Mary's Care Centre), Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.

 

Old accommodation block, Mullingar Workhouse (now St Mary's Care Centre)

 

In 1858 there were several attempts by paupers (workhouse inmates) to set fire to the Mullingar workhouse. The crimes were witnessed by other male paupers sleeping in the same dormitory.

 

Old entrance block, Mullingar Workhouse

 

 An inquiry was held in November into a number of charges against male paupers there. None of the witnesses gave evidence willingly - except a Deaf boy who was an inmate there.

 

It was also reported that the Deaf boy was the only witness there who was able to read and write well. 

 

Source: https://books.google.ie/books?id=na5bAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA448

 

More info on the Mullingar Workhouse: http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Mullingar/

Lisburn Workhouse: A Deaf Boy's Education Hangs in the Balance

The building that was the workhouse in Lisburn (now Lagan Valley Hospital).

 

Thomas Burns was an 8 year old deaf boy living in Lisburn in 1889. The Lisburn Board of Guardians (who met regularly in the Workhouse and ran it) were asked to pay for him to go to Cabra to be educated, as his parents were very poor and could not afford to have him educated. His behaviour was wild and becoming a nuisance around Lisburn.

 

Some of the Board of Guardians were very willing to pay the £15 a year to send Thomas, but others passionately objected. They thought £15 was too expensive and that Thomas should be admitted for free. Others believed he should be sent to the deaf school in Belfast, as it would be cheaper, and local Protestant Deaf children from Lisburn had already been sent there.

 

It was proposed that £10 be offered to Cabra to pay for Thomas' education. But Cabra replied and said that they had to insist on the full £15 from every child sent. So, instead, the Guardians offered to pay £15 - but for only two years. Cabra reminded the Guardians that two years was not at all enough time to educate Thomas properly.

 

 

 

Thomas was eventually admitted to Cabra in October 1889. However, he did not stay there long. He suffered from many epileptic fits and had to be returned home to Lisburn.

 

Sources: local Lisburn newspapers - please contact me if you need references

See http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Lisburn/ for more information on the workhouse.