Francis Maginn: Difference between revisions
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'''Scott 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 [[British Deaf Association]]. |
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==Early life and education== |
==Early life and education== |
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Revision as of 15:17, 7 January 2011
Francis Maginn | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1861 |
| Died | 1918 |
| Resting place | Belfast City Cemetery |
| Nationality | Irish / British |
| Education | Royal London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb then Gallaudet University |
| Known for | co-founder of the British Deaf Association / Superintendent of Ulster Institute for the Deaf |
Scott 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 British Deaf Association.
Early life and education
Maginn was born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland in 1861. His father was a Church of Ireland vicar, and his mother was well-connected to the wealthy families in Ireland. At 5, Maginn went to He was meant to be sent to Christ's Hospital, a famous boarding school in England however he became deaf that year due to scarlet fever and his father have sent him to the famous Royal London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb on Old Kent Road.
Maginn excelled at school and was offered a junior teachership at 17 in the Royal London Asylum's Margate Branch. He kept this position for the five years, returned to Ireland for a year, and then went to the National Deaf Mutes College at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.. The move from Ireland to America had a profound effect on Maginn, who felt he now had the ability to achieve a higher level of attainment. He spent three years at Gallaudet and did not graduate because he had to leave to be at his father's bedside, but left highly regarded and with letters of support (he would receive an honorary degree from Gallaudet in later life). Leaving Gallaudet, Maginn felt that the British approach to deafness was one of injustice, and that his life's work would be to enhance the quality of life of the deaf in the United Kingdom.
Return to Ireland
Maginn returned to the Ireland in 1882, and became president of the first British association to further the cause of the deaf and dumb. While it recruited 239 members, it failed in 1889.
A new association for deaf people was created in Paris in 1889, marking 100 years after educator and "Father of the Deaf" Charles-Michel de l'Épée died. The Royal Commission on Deaf Education was published by Alexander Graham Bell this same year, ensuring official education for the deaf but dismissing their right to marry. Maginn had met Bell while studying in America, and wrote that "The deaf mutes of the US recognise the fact that he is acting in all sincerity and with the best of intentions and that their esteem for him is not lessened by the contempt in which they hold his theories.”
Royal Commission on the Education of the Deaf and Dumb
The Deaf community was under pressure from the Royal Commission on the Blind and Deaf & Dumb (1887–1889) as the Commissioned have proposed one of the series of legislation at the time to standardise the education of 'handicapped' people. This legislation supported the use of the 'pure oral method' of education and discouraged deaf people from marrying for fear of producing a 'deaf race' (as advised by Alexander Graham Bell). Rev. William B. Sleight, the chair of the British Deaf & Dumb Association sat on the commission and signed it in 1889 with reservations, which were printed in the London Times:
"The contention of Messrs. Owen and Sleight is that the Oral System breaks down in after life, and that its pupils not infrequently resort to writing and the manual alphabet. They, therefore, advocate the "Combined Method" -i.e., the main instruction being carried on by means of the finger alphabet and signs, articulation and lip-reading being taught as accomplishments to those who show aptitude for receiving such instruction." (October 24, 1889)
Founding of the British Deaf Association
The national representative association, promoting the interest of the British Deaf community, was originally formed in 1890 by Francis Maginn who tried to set up something similar a decade before. It was in response to the infamous 1880 Milan Congress declaring that sign language was banned from deaf shcools, excluding hundreds of deaf teachers, teaching assistants and care staff from the many deaf schools in Europe and North America. The Royal Commission Report, published in 1889, supported the establishment of the Pure Oral System to be used in schools for deaf children.
In January 1890, a national conference for the deaf was held in St Saviour's Church for the deaf in London. Here, Maginn presented his views for improving the deaf education system in Britain. He proposed forming a National Association for the Deaf, and said that the American "Combined Methods" education system, which incorporated fingerspelling, Signed English, lipreading and Manualism approaches that facilitated oral communication in the deaf such as Total Communication combined with sign language, works and should be brought to the UK.
At the conference, it was agreed that there should a representative association representing the deaf community in the British Empire. The constitution was adopted, except for two changes. First, instead of the "National Association for the Deaf," they named it the "British Deaf And Dumb Association." Though it was pointed out that the word "dumb" was no longer in use in America, the representative association would not remove it from their title until 1970. Secondly, though Maginn wanted only deaf people to become members, the steering group said they would allow hearing members who took an active interest in the welfare of the deaf, provided they were proposed by five deaf people. Maginn hotly disagreed with this decision, objecting to the idea of the “benevolent paternalism” of the hearing friends of the deaf. The Association championed for the use of sign language in deaf schools rather than just Pure Oral Systems, despite movements such as those of the Milan Congress in 1880 to use only oralist methods without sign language.[1]
The Association was formed in Leeds. William Sleight, a hearing man, was elected as the chairman of the association, and Maginn was given the role of regional vice-president; an honorary position with no real power which was a blow to Maginn's confidence. Maginn himself gradually withdrew from the Association and concentrated his energy on Ulster Institute for the Deaf.
Maginn confined his later years to work in Belfast. The British Deaf Association didn't have hearing chairs until the appointment of Jock Young as their first Deaf chair in the 1980s and their first deaf Chief Executive Jeff McWhinney was appointed in the 1990s.[2] He died in Belfast in 1918.[3]
Ulster Institute for the Deaf
Despite his failure to challenge the attitudes among deaf missionaries in the UK and Ireland, he gave up went back to Belfast to focus on his work as the Superintendent at the Ulster Institute for the Deaf where he was much appreciated by Ulster's deaf community.
Francis Maginn's Legacy
He is the only deaf historical figure native to the UK and Ireland that is still talked about and respected by the deaf community a century later.
References
- ^ "History of Deaf organisations". deafinfo.org. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ^ "Centre for Deaf Studies: Famous Deaf People". University of Bristol. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ^ Johnston, Michael. "Northern Ireland Deaf Youth Association was proud to host the IUK Camp 2006 in Northern Ireland - July 24th - July 30th 2006". Retrieved 2009-01-15. [dead link]