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1606 - 1656: John Bulwer (UK)

John Bulwer is known as the first person in England to propose educating deaf people.

1715 – 1806: Thomas Braidwood (UK)

1715 – 1806: Thomas Braidwood (UK)

Thomas Braidwood (1715–1806) was a Scottish educator, significant in the history of deaf education. He was the founder of Britain's first school for the deaf.

Braidwood changed his vocation from teaching hearing pupils to teaching the deaf, and renamed his building Braidwood's Academy for the Deaf and Dumb, the first school of its kind in Britain.

The educational approach utilized a "combined system" incorporating sign language, articulation, speech, and lip-reading. Braidwood's input into the development and application of a signed language has been credited as one of the most significant influencers of what would become British Sign Language. 

1723 - 1792: Joshua Reynolds, Painter (UK)

1723 - 1792: Joshua Reynolds, Painter (UK)

Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits.

1742–1810: Richard Crosse, Painter (UK)

1742–1810: Richard Crosse, Painter (UK)

Richard Crosse  was a leading English painter of portrait miniatures. Crosse was, like one of his sisters, completely deaf and never able to speak. 

1750 – 1829: Charles Shirreff, Painter (UK)

1750 – 1829: Charles Shirreff, Painter (UK)

Charles Shirreff was born in either 1749 or 1750. His last name has, at times, been spelled as Sherrif, Sherriff, or Shirref.

At the age of three or four, Shirreff became deaf and mute. In 1760, his father approached Thomas Braidwood, owner of a school of mathematics in Edinburgh, seeking an education for the boy, then ten years old, in the hope that he could be taught to write.

Charles became Braidwood's first deaf student; soon afterward, Braidwood founded Braidwood's Academy for the Deaf and Dumb, the first school of its kind in Britain."

1764 – 1786: John Goodricke, Astronomer (UK)

1764 – 1786: John Goodricke, Astronomer (UK)

John Goodricke FRS (17 September 1764 – 20 April 1786) was an English amateur astronomer. He is best known for his observations of the variable star Algol (Beta Persei) in 1782.

1792: First Public School for the Deaf in the UK, London

1792: First Public School for the Deaf in the UK, London

England’s first public institution for deaf children known as ‘London Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor’ was started in London in 1792

1861 - 1918: Francis Maginn (UK)

Francis Maginn (1861–1918) was a Church of Ireland missionary who worked to improve living standards for the deaf community by promoting sign language and was one of the co-founders of the British Deaf Association.

1870's: Deaf Victorians in the UK

1870's: Deaf Victorians in the UK

Documentary (BSL with English subtitles) with dramatic inserts. Starring some well-known modern Deaf actors, Deaf Victorians shows us what life was like for Deaf people in Victorian times. 

1890: British Deaf Association (BDA)

The BDA British Deaf Association (BDA) was formed in Leeds as The British Deaf and Dumb Association (BDDA) on 24th July 1890.