After more than twenty years association with the Brighton Society for the Blind and other agencies for blind people in the town, it seemed to me that some account should be put on record of the tremendous role that Brighton, influenced perhaps by the spirit of that remarkable Victorian William Moon, has played in recognizing the need and for providing both educational and social facilities for visually handicapped people. There is no doubt that had William Moon lived today he would have been given the recognition he so richly deserved.

I am deeply grateful to Mrs Judy Middleton for her painstaking work in extracting the most important and interesting incidents of its history from a huge mass of detail and at the same time bringing to our notice what was surely great humiliation and suffering of a small section of our community just because they were unable to see.

Above all, I thank her for so generously donating her services and considerable talents to the production of this booklet. Its brevity is necessitated by cost but for those wishing to know more I would refer them to the bibliography at the end.

Finally, I wish to dedicate this little booklet to those whose lives it concerns - my blind and partially sighted friends of Brighton whom it has been a priviledge to know and whom I regard with great affection.

Joan Breeze
Holwell, Sherborne
Dorset August 1988

(C) Judy Middleton 1988

The majority of Brighton's blind (if they were not born thus afflicted) must have lost their sight through injury or disease. Life was tough enough for the able-bodied working class who had to endure long hours of work in order to make ends meet. So just how did a blind person cope?

The hardest part to bear must have been the knowledge that he or she was a drain on their family's slender resources and if there were no family, what alternative was there but to beg? The idea of ending up destitute in the Workhouse was as horrifying to them as it was to their sighted friends but undoubtedly that is where some of them finished their days. There was also the fact that there was nothing to occupy their minds and nothing to lift them out of themselves and make them aware of the larger world beyond.

So we come back to William Moon and his impact. He was born in 1818, a perfectly normal baby. However, when he was four years old he suffered an attack of scarlet fever. It was a virulent illness which caused him to lose the sight of one eye. His other eye was seriously affected but his family hoped that with good care all could be well. Indeed he endured several operations on his eyes which in those days must have been an ordeal since there were no modern anaesthetics. But the treatment was unsuccessful and at the age of twenty-one he became totally blind. Many years later when he was reaching the end of a long life, he remarked "It has been for me a long night, but a bright day."

When he became blind William Moon had to give up his hopes of becoming a minister although he had already been engaged on theological studies. Instead of allowing himself to be plunged into depression, he set his mind to work on the problems of an alphabet for blind people. Not that he was the first in the field - the braille system was published in 1829 and there were other embossed systems too. However William Moon found by experience when trying to teach the blind himself that these other alphabets were too complicated. Simplicity was his keyword. It meant, for example, that a blind boy who had been struggling for five years to read without success, mastered the Moon system in ten days. Whereas Braille had 140 contractions, the Moon system had only six and as Moon was based on Roman letters (that is the usual alphabet used by sighted people) those who became blind later in life found it easier to learn than Braille. It was also found that to read Braille required sensitive touch and an older or infrm hand could cope with Moon more easily.

The Roman letters used in the Moon system were of course modified forms - there were nine letters virtually unaltered, seven letters slightly altered and ten new shapes. The fingers read the letters by moving from left to right, down to the next line and then from right to left. This way the blind person did not lose his way so frequently. William Moon was fascinated to discover many years later that his style of alphabet went back to the ancient Hittite and Egyptian and that the forwards, backwards style he adopted was called "ox-ploughing" by the Greeks - up one furrow down the next. He commented that there was nothing new under the sun.

At one time William Moon lived at 104 Queen's Road, Brighton with his wife and children. It was a struggle to manage and Mrs Moon kept a shop to help out while Moon himself earned 5/- or 7/6d a week teaching blind pupils. His very first pupil was a blind woman who lived near Smither's Brewery in North Street. At night he burned the midnight oil by working out how to produce plates of Moon print. After many experiments he devised a plate of tinned sheet iron to which were fixed the characters made of tinned copper wire. He began to print Moon books in his own house and it was not until 1856 that he managed to erect a small work- shop adjacent to it the foundation stone being laid by Sir Charles Lowther who was himself a blind man, and who later became one of Moon's closest friends. By December 1858 William Moon had completed the whole of the Bible consisting of 5,000 pages printed in 60 volumes. It had taken him ten years of arduous work.

William Moon had the advantage of remembering colours and shapes but he was aware that those born blind had no conception of what a horse looked like. A blind girl he knew thought that a horse walked upright on two legs and held the other two up, like people did with their arms. So William embarked on a whole series of embossed pictures on all sorts of subjects and two of the most popular turned out to be portraits of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort. Euclid, maps and the solar system were also embossed.

Although Moon taught pupils in his small school, he realised there must be many more blind people isolated in their homes who would be glad to learn how to read if only someone would come and visit them. In 1855 the Home Teaching Society was formed, at first in London and then also in Brighton. But first blind people had to be located which was not an easy task. It meant going about and asking passers-by continually if they knew the whereabouts of any blind people. Fortunately William Moon had the assistance of the indefatiguable Miss Graham during his periods in London.

In London during 1854 and 1855 the two of them were out frequently from nine in the morning until nine at night and they would become so engrossed in their work that they would forget the time and have to run all the way to the station to catch the Brighton train. On one occasion they arrived panting at the top of a flight of steps as the train pulled alongside the platform but before they reached the bottom the train was moving out. Nothing daunted, the intrepid Miss Graham shouted for the train to be stopped. It was, but in the hurry and confusion it started up leaving William Moon stranded on the platform and Miss Graham inside the train. So she shouted again and the train ground to a halt for the second time while William was retrieved from the platform.

On one of their London excursions William Moon and Miss Graham passed through St. Paul's Churchyard making enquiries as usual for blind people. A woman keeping an apple stall nearby said she had sometimes seen a little blind girl and she summoned a small boy to show the visitors where the child lived. The mother agreed to let them see her daughter and led them up a winding stair to a room at the very top of the house. Inside they found the blind girl and her sister who was ill with scarlet fever in a bed in the corner of the room. Miss Graham was not worried by the illness but it must have struck a poignant note with Moon because it was the same illness which had set him off on the road to blindness. The visitors lost no time in trying to explain the alphabet to the blind girl and they were pleased to find her bright and responsive. On their way back William Moon was amused to be told that the girl's house was located in Labour-in-Vain Court. But the story had a happy ending because the child was sent to the Blind School at Brighton where she was an attentive pupil. In due course she became an organist in one of Londons churches.

Before we lose sight of William Moon completely, mention must be made of the Moon Society which was dedicated to the production of books in Moon type. It would be wrong to think of this as a small parochial affair for the benefit of Brighton's blind and possibly those of London. The production of Moon books was an international undertaking. By 1892 the astonishing number of 551 different works in English had been printed and 223 in foreign languages which ranged from Hindi to Urdu and from Swedish to Dutch. As Moon script was larger than other embossed scripts, a Moon book was necessarily bulky. Thus, a single edition volume of about 700 pages in ordinary type would require 17 large volumes when printed in Moon type. Then again each letter was hand cut from copper and fixed to tin plate, so the labour was immense. Moon had one particularly devoted worker, a woman, who for 44 years had laboured away in Queen's Road cutting out mountains of copper letters.

It was worthwhile work and correspondence arrived from all over the world expressing the gratitude of blind people for William Moon's alphabet. The United States had upwards of 65,000 blind (50,000 of them adults) most of whom could not read for themselves unless the books were embossed in a clear and simple type like William Moon's. Interest in Moon had begun in 1870 when Sir Charles Lowther presented 2,000 volumes to New York for distribution to the principal cities. In 1882, during his only visit to the USA, William Moon and his daughter Adelaide founded the Pennsylvania Home Teaching Society in Philadelphia and other large cities, together with Free Libraries. Ten years later books were being sent out by mail from Philadelphia to all parts of the country. It was the University of Philadelphia which had awarded William Moon the honorary degree of LL.D in 1871 in recognition of his work for the blind.

A Home Teaching Scheme also operated in Australia. Most of the teachers were blind and they had to put up with travelling enormous distances to reach all their pupils. The energetic Mr Prescott of Sydney, for instance, had upwards of 300 pupils and visited 100 places, sometimes clocking up 10,000 miles travel in a year. Mr Prescott originated from Kent and emigrated to New Zealand to join the Constabulary. But during his service he became blind. Whilst he was in hospital it was suggested to him that he ought to learn William Moon's alphabet and so off he went to the Melbourne Institute in Australia. He made such rapid progress there that he soon became a member of the Home Teaching Scheme.

In India there was a desperate need for more Home Teachers. Already the gospels of St John and St Matthew were available in Hindi and Urdu and by 1892 the "Pilgrim's Progress" had already been finished.

From the beginning of the Moon Society until the end of 1892 the total number of books sent out was 194,993. In 1892 alone 17 new volumes had been completed; these were nine in English, two in Hindustani, one in Tamil, four in Hindi and one in Welsh. A mind boggling statistic was that the Lord's Prayer or some portion of Scripture had been embossed in 419 languages and dialects. From this it will be deduced that missionary work was felt to go hand in hand with teaching blind people to read: Indeed the British and Foreign Bible Society supported the work by grants of money.

In 1915 the Moon Society became a branch of the National Institute for the Blind (which was granted its royal charter in 1953 and became the Royal National Institute for the Blind). It meant that more money was pumped into the Moon workshop and as demand for Moon books continued to increase, new machinery was installed.

The Moon works stayed at Queen's Road until February 1960 when they moved to Reigate. The site of Dr Moon's endeavour is now covered by a modern office block but Dr Moon has not been forgotten and in October 1964 a plaque to him was unveiled on the building. Amongst those watching was 76 year old George Robinson who had been employed in printing Moon books for 43 years. As a personal link with the founder, he could remember Miss Adelaide Moon and Dr Robert Moon (William Moon's daughter and son).

Inevitably the provision of books for the blind had to be undertaken on a national scale. This was known as the Centralization Scheme and the aim was to have a national library in one place. It was felt that only in this way could all the books be utilized to the full. Brighton was regarded as a good case in point because Brighton Free Library had a valuable collection of Moon books which, once read by the local blind, sat idle on the shelves. How much better to have them at a central library where blind people in other parts of the country could benefit too. Then again since Brighton Free Library had such a good stock of Moon books, they refused to buy Braille ones which was rather hard on local Braille readers. The Centralization Scheme was agreed to by the Brighton interests in 1909.

The body chiefly involved in this decision was yet another society for the blind. It was known as the Brighton Blind Missionary Fund and it had been founded in April 1886. It was formed with the best intentions by some eminent local people and Sir William Tindal Robertson left the Fund £92-6-2d in his will. But the realization soon set in that the Fund was more or less duplicating the work already being done by Miss Moon particularly in the missionary work and assistance to the blind. The Fund's one original contribution was to pay blind people to copy books in Braille. In 1909 the income from the Trust Fund was transferred to the National Lending Library for the Blind with the local blind people continuing to be employed as copyists.

In 1862 William Moon founded the Brighton, Hove and Sussex Blind Relief and Visiting Society, later to be known as the Brighton Society for the Welfare of the Blind and now more simply called the Brighton Society for the Blind. This was the next logical step in Dr Moon's concern for the blind, many of whom lived in the greatest poverty.

It is interesting to note that the Receipt Books quite often record gifts to the Society in goods rather than cash. For instance, in December 1873 a Mr Lelliott gave 12 yards of calico and Mrs Lyn donated 1lb of tea and 3lbs of sugar. People with businesses near Moon's house in Queen's Road gave what support they could - like the Windmill Inn in upper North Street and the Blacksmith's Arms in North Street which sent one shilling each. In fact the list of donors is like a catalogue of well known Brighton business names - names like Beal's (stationers) Willett (builder) Attree (solicitor) Vokins (family store) Cheesman (builder) Mrs Soper (of Soper's Emporium) Mrs R H Penney (Southwick shipowners) and Gerald Loder (MP for Brighton who lived in Abinger House on the seafront). But by far the most generous patron was Major Way who lived at Wick Hall, Hove and who from 1878 until his death ten years later, donated an average of £26 a year.

With such support the Society was able to distribute some comforts to the blind poor. In 1872 a Mr Wisdom was given new boots and stockings (cost 11/6d and 1/6d) while Edward Cogling was fitted out with trousers and waistcoat (cost 8/- and 3/-). At Christmas time the same year the following blind people were given a half cwt of coal and three small loaves each - Webb, Bishop, Shrivel, Cobby, Tull, Belsey, Avery, Sullivan, Cotton, Clernow, Randal, Tapner, Coltrup, Mrs Gillan and Mrs Smith.

As more money was donated so more could be passed on to the blind. Thus in 1877 as well as coal, bread and potatoes, the blind were also given currants, raisins, tea, sugar and suet at Christmas. By the turn of the century blind people at Lewes were also being assisted while in 1906 a note records that 17/- was sent to blind persons in Brighton Workhouse.

By 1915 the economic climate was more difficult. Gone were the generous patrons of Victorian times and it was a struggle to raise money by the time honoured method of Pound Day and Sales of Work. Yet there were 120 blind people in Brighton and Hove known to the Society of whom 58 received two loaves of bread each week. At Christmas time 63 parcels of clothing and groceries plus 77 sacks of coal were sent to needy blind people.

One person to feel the crunch was Miss Andrew, the missionary worker who had patiently gone around paying some 2,000 visits to the blind. Unfortunately the Society did not feel able to afford her salary of £36-8-0 a year any longer and so felt "obliged to dispense with her valuable services." In future her work would be undertaken by unpaid volunteers. No wonder the annual report made a heartfelt plea to all kind-hearted people to support the Society "so that we may continue the benefits we have been accustomed to bestow on those cut off from the light of day, the majority of whom are very poor, many afflicted, and others advanced in years:"

In March 1915 Miss Elizabeth Munro Ritchie, who had been Adelaide Moon's assistant from 1898 until her death in 1914, was asked to become secretary to the Society. She "accepted without salary until such time as the funds could warrant this expense." In 1916 she was awarded the princely sum of £36 per annum which was increased to £100 at the end of 1918.

In December 1932 she introduced the symbol of The Lantern bearing the slogan "The Lantern that Lightens Brighton's Blind." Not only has this become the Society's logo but nowadays the Society itself is popularly known as The Lantern.

The plight of blind people had at last roused the Government to some action and the Blind Persons Act of 1920 required the Borough to make provision for the blind in certain specific ways. It also made it possible for a blind person to draw an old age pension at the age of fifty instead of having to wait until the seventieth birthday. But there was still plenty of scope for a voluntary organisation. By 1924 there were 211 blind people on the Society's register and in the annual report some statistics were printed as to what they could do. The females considered unemployable seem disproportionately high - perhaps they were mostly aged and infirm.

By 1925 the number of blind people has risen to 280 and it is interesting to learn that of these 24 were blinded soldiers and 20 were in the Workhouse. Out of the 280 there were only seven who were of independent means. It really did seem as though blindness was a predicament of poverty.

Seventeen blind men scratched a living as street musicians or news vendors. Walter Chapman was one such street musician. He was 48 years old and his piano had been presented to him by the Society. One day in 1925 he was playing his piano in the street as usual when he suddenly collapsed and had to be rushed to the County Hospital where he was operated upon. The Society stepped in and paid the cost of the ambulance, doctor's fees, wife's bus fare etc. Meanwhile two of Walter's friends rallied around and took the piano out onto the streets while he lay in hospital, giving Mrs Chapman a third of their earnings. But Walter was too ill to be able to continue as a street musician and the following year he was found to be suffering from tuberculosis. The Society allowed him 18/- a week. He died in 1930.

Another street musician was Albert Simkins of Tichbourne Street who sat by his wind-up gramophone and waited to see what coins people would give him. As well as being blind, he was crippled with rheumatism and in 1926 after a spell of illness, he had had enough. He applied to the Society for a weekly allowance so that he need not beg anymore and his wife could go out and earn some money instead of looking after him all the time.

In the 1930s Fred was also to be seen in the streets with his gramophone. He only did this in the summer and during the winter the Society allowed him 15/- all the time he was not earning. By 1938 the Society had increased his grant to 25/- a week. This was a cause of some misunderstanding to Fred's wife who wrote an indignant letter to the Society, refusing the money. The Committee instructed Miss Grey to visit her and explain the situation patiently.

Old Henry aged 68 of Jubilee Street was a blind beggar who wanted to come off the streets. The Society agreed to allow him 15/- a week provided he ceased "soliciting alms." But old habits die hard and perhaps Henry missed the street bustle and probably he had built up a clientele of people who regularly gave him money. At any rate six months later in 1932 old Henry's allowance was stopped because he had been spotted back at his old begging post without reporting it to the Society.

Heart rending stories like these are to be found in the "Case Histories" which extend from 1925 until 1948. If you thought the little match girl belonged to the realms of Hans Anderson, consider Edith's case. Admittedly she was no girl, being all of 51 years old, but she was blind and her only source of income was through selling matches on the street. This was in 1932. Out of her earnings she had to pay 8/6d rent and by the time she applied to the Society for assistance she was 30/- in arrears and owed £4-2-7d for matches.

To balance the picture, it is as well to mention here that the Society was also finding it hard to manage in the 1930s because of the depression. Like most other charities the subscription list had diminished. Fortunately Brighton Corporation gave the Society a grant (in 1932 this was £2,960) but if it had not been for unexpected bequests (like f3,250 from the late James Turner) things would have been black indeed.

One of the saddest cases was that of Griselda who had always suffered from weak eyesight. She was trained at the Barclay Home and worked as a domestic servant until she was thirty. But her eyesight grew worse and she had to give it up. Just when everything seemed to have reached its lowest point, she thought she had found happiness at last with a soldier stationed at Preston Barracks. No doubt he promised her all sorts of things but when she became heavily pregnant, he vanished. It turned out he had given a false name and could not be traced. She was left on her own and gave birth to twins. Her sole support was a married sister who managed to give her some money although the sister was already supporting their crippled mother. The Society agreed to help by allowing Griselda 17/6d for herself and the twins.

Poor Griselda does not seem to have learned her lesson as regards men because four years later she had another illegitimate child. But at least this father did not do a vanishing act and he made her an allowance of 4/- a week to support his child. Griselda had also been receiving some money from the Public Assistance Committee but in 1938 they suddenly had a fit of conscience and said they could not allow Griselda any money because her three children were illegitimate. You would have thought the fact made her claim more pressing.

She was thrown back on the generosity of the Society once more. They helped her out when she had to go into hospital and they bought her a pair of spectacles so that she could see better out-of-doors. She still could not see well enough to do any work inside the house.

When she was thirty-eight and not long after war broke out, Griselda at last got married but to a registered blind man. Her husband was employed by the RNIB as a home worker, probably basket making or chair caning, so she did not have to rely on the Society for support any more although she still received an allowance for her children. In June 1942 her children were evacuated for a short time and during the same year her husband underwent.an operation on his eyes. He recovered eventually but he was unable to work for a while. By 1946 Griselda had one dependent child left at home as the other two were working and that is where the record ends.

Another story we can trace in some detail is that of Frank. We first met him in 1925 when he was aged thirty-one. He was not totally blind but his sight was too poor for ordinary employment so he earned his living by basket weaving. It would not have been so bad if he had only himself to worry about but he had a wife called Nellie and four children to support. Although he was employed under the RNIB scheme as a home worker it appears that basket making was not his forte. He thought he was being paid insufficiently for his work and he complained to the Society. But when the Society made discreet enquiries at the Homeworkers Department in Reigate, they discovered that poor Frank was not considered capable of doing many kinds of basket work. However the Society felt that he should be kept on the homeworkers scheme and agreed to make up his earnings to the amount of 16/- a week.

The year 1933 was a bad one for the family. Frank's teeth were decayed and some ached so badly that he had to seek help. The Society agreed to pay the bill for extractions and dentures. By the time winter set in the whole family appeared to be undernourished and one child was in the Infirmary. Their total income from all sources was 36/- and their rent was 7/6d. The Society thought a quart of milk a day and some fresh eggs ought to do some good.

The following year Frank was removed from the homeworkers scheme. One wonders how the decision was broken to him. His case had been discussed by the Society's Committee and a representative from the RNIB and the feeling was that Frank ought to leave. He was not working up to standard and the amount of work he managed to produce only earned him 10/- a week which meant he had to receive 16/- augmentation with 10/- for his wife and children. In addition the Town Council paid £20 a year to the RNIB as a capitation grant to the scheme. But Frank was not out of pocket because the Society made him an allowance of 36/- a week.

Three months later Frank's son John aged six was causing some anxiety. The Society's Medical Officer thought the child was suffering from tuberculosis but the Medical Officer of Health did not agree and the child was refused free milk. On top of this the mother was ill and had to go into hospital and the Society helped by paying a woman 5/- a week to come in and clean the house. Whatever the cause of her illness, it is a sad fact that in 1936 Nellie was certified blind. So here were two blind people struggling to survive with four children. They took in a lodger which brought them 5/- a week and later Frank managed to do some organ blowing (this was in the days before electrically driven organs were the norm) which gave him 2/- a week. In 1939 one of their children was in and out of the Sanatorium but by 1940 life was beginning to get a little easier for Frank and Nellie because one son was working and self sufficient and the family was able to move to a better address. The following year their daughter also found a job. By 1945 with Frank and Nellie in their fifties, their reliance on the Society gradually lessened as their children began to contribute towards their upkeep.

We have seen how some blind people earned money as street musicians or by basket weaving at home. However there were serious attempts to diversify the trades they had to offer. In 1934 it was still true to say that the blind workforce was predominantly male with but five females working as trained machine knitters and another five who were weavers. For the men basket weaving was the most popular occupation with eighteen men engaged in it, closely followed by thirteen mat-makers. Boot repairing was another good trade employing eight men while another eight were engaged in tuning pianos. There was one man trained in massage and it is worth mentioning that Lord Fraser was to speak warmly in praise of blind masseurs. Another modern occupation was that of telephone operator and there was one of these. Altogether in 1934 there were 86 men earning money in various trades as opposed to eleven women although there were 155 blind women on the register.

It is interesting to compare two tables showing the age when blindness occurred - one from 1934 and the other from 1983. One fact immediately noticeable is how the incidence of blindness in early childhood has dropped since Victorian times. From another source comes the answer as to the reason why. A survey on District Nursing in Brighton stated that 30% of children attending the Blind School had lost their sight because of inattention at birth which resulted in inflammation (opthalmianeonatorum). Since the Queen's Nurses had started to visit homes to care for the eyes of the newly-born, there had been no record of a child blinded through this cause. The amount of male blindness in the 1930s, probably attributable to industrial injuries if not disease, had declined by the 1980s. An interesting comparison is the later age at which blindness occurs in the 1980s. There were 354 blind in 1934 and 121 of them became blind before their fiftieth birthday. Whereas in 1983 although the total number was 491, only 33 had become blind before they were 50. It is evident that blindness in the 1980s is more often due to old age than to any other cause and as women tend to live longer than men, it is logical that the number of blind women should exceed that of men. The shift away from blindness in the earlier years also explains why the former large scale training schemes have been replaced by smaller more specialized courses.

Age at which blindness occurred:
1934
Years	Males	Females	Total
0-5	-	-	-
5-16	3	1	4
16-21	2	3	5
21-30	9	9	18
30-40	25	12	37
40-50	42	15	57
50-60	52	30	82
60-70	32	32	64
70+	34	53	87
Total	199	155	354

1983
Age Range	Males	Females	Total
0-4	-	1	1
5-15	2	2	4
16-49	15	13	28
50-64	33	21	54
65-74	59	44	103
75+	125	176	301
Total	234	257	491

It is difficult for us at this distance of time to understand just what a blessing the wireless was to the blind. It meant entertainment, news and information and up-to-the-minute contact with current affairs. It also put the blind on a par with their sighted neighbours because it did not matter if you had perfect eyesight you could not extract any more enjoyment from the wireless than a blind person could. As the majority of blind people were in poor circumstances, the provision of a wireless set for them posed something of a problem.

A Wireless for the Blind Fund was set up nationally and on Christmas Day 1929 no less a person than Winston Churchill broadcast an appeal. In one of his memorable phrases he asked the listening public to send in donations so that it would be possible to boast "The blind all have wireless sets. It is the custom of the country." At least the blind did not need a wireless receiving licence; this was the result of a Bill instigated by Lord Fraser of Lonsdale.

In the 1930s the Brighton Radio Circuit installed their relay service free of charge for the blind but by 1934 Mr Skipper, the manager, was obliged to tell the Society that it was impossible to continue. The British Wireless Fund was paying 30/- for each installation but the cost of maintenance was too great if no payment were made. The Society agreed to pay £11 a year. The blind were asked to pay 5d a month maintenance or 5/- a year and it was felt that this charge was fair in view of the great demand for a wireless set. Our old friend Fred (he of the wind-up gramophone) refused to pay his 5d in 1934 but the Society told him in no uncertain terms that if he did not pay up, his wireless would be taken away and given to another blind person anxious to have one.

By 1938 the relay system had brought the wireless into the homes of 154 blind people in Brighton and it had proved an "unending source of interest to those confined to their homes."

In the history of caring for the blind there are many strands which lead back to William Moon and this school is another of them. It is said that it was his enterprise in starting a small school for blind pupils in his own house in Queen's Road which led to the foundation of the Blind School (claimed to be one of the oldest in the country). After a short spell in Moon's house, the blind were taught in a building in Egremont Place which was shared with deaf and dumb children. But the number of blind pupils increased so the school moved again and by 1848 it was situated in the Central National Schools in Church Street with the entrance to the Blind Asylum (as it was then called) round the corner in Jubilee Street.

By 1861 there were 17 children, 9 girls and 8 boys. The Victorian attitude to the blind (and Dr Moon's too to be honest) was heavily tinged with religion. This sentiment is well demonstrated in the following contemporary statement. "The Blind Children are trained in habits of industry, and assiduous attention is given to their religious exercises; thus in the midst of darkness opening the eye of their understanding to the prospects of a better and brighter inheritance." The maximum period of training was seven years and children were not admitted before they were six years old or older than twelve.

In the early 1860s the Blind Asylum removed to brand new premises in Eastern Road. The building was designed by Somers Clarke who seems to have taken his inspiration straight from Venice - from the Ca'd'Oro to be precise. (It is a matter of regret that this extraordinary building was demolished for no good reason in 1958). In their new quarters the curriculum widened for the children with music and singing being added to a good basic education besides wool and basket work. By the 1890s the public were no longer permitted to come and gape at the children every day as had been the case formerly. Visiting was restricted to the first Monday afternoon of the month. Neither did the children have to leave when they were twelve. Instead girls could remain until they were twenty-one and boys until they were eighteen.

All this time the Blind Asylum had operated as a mixed school but in 1904 the decision was made that henceforth it should be a boys only school. The reason for this arbitrary decision is not known. But it took five years for the school to regain its full strength. By this time (1909) local boys formed only a small proportion of its pupils. From a list of forty-fve boys just four came from Brighton and eight from other places in Sussex. The rest came from far and wide - from Cambridge to Great Yarmouth.

The income of the Blind School in 1909 came from Government grants, local rates, voluntary contributions, Pound Day etc and amounted to £2,082-11-0. The school was still strongly influenced by religious considerations, indeed rule one stated that the object of the place was "the religious and general instruction of the Blind" in that order. Towards this end pupils were examined regularly in their religious knowledge by an official of the diocese. New subjects were introduced into the curriculum such as typewriting, hammock making, clay modelling and rug making. Many old pupils earned their living as piano tuners. By 1914 the number of boys had risen to fifty.

The Barclay Home was founded in 1893 by the Hon. Mrs Campion who had been given £500 for the purpose by the late Alexander Barclay. The ideas was to give industrial training to the blind or partially sighted girls over sixteen years of age and it was hoped that with these acquired skills such girls might become virtually self-supporting. The Home started off in St Michael 's Place but in 1900 it moved to Wellington Road where it occupied numbers 23 and 25. This was modest enough but there was rapid expansion until by 1906 the Home occupied numbers 27 and 21 as well, not to mention a new wing which had been added to number 27.

One reason for the swift expansion was that the Blind School, which as we have seen switched over to a single sex system, asked the Barclay Home to take fourteen girls. Another reason lay in the fact that experience showed the older girls were incapable of benefiting from training if their earlier education had been neglected. In other words the earlier a blind girl started her education, the better. This meant the opening of a junior department which proved to be a great success. (By 1932 there were 70 blind girls between the ages of five and sixteen and there were 21 above that age, six of these being non-resident).

In 1922 number 31 Wellington Road was purchased to accommodate a workshop. Gone were the days of simple basket making as the Barclay Workshop turned out quite sophisticated articles. In 1925 items for sale included a wool costume with silk braid trimming for £3-3s; handwoven coats in wool for 45/6d and skirt lengths to match for 27/6d. Tweeds, hopsacks and serges could be bought for 7/- a yard while silks cost 12/6d a yard and cottons 3/6d a yard. Luxury articles like a silk matinee coat for £2-2s or silk stockings for 10/6d were also produced at Barclay. Besides these there was a whole range of more mundane articles like curtains, towels, tablecloths etc. Obviously to sell such goods it was essential to have them prominently on display before the buying public. In 1928 the freehold of a shop at 22 East Street was purchased which was right in the middle of the shopping area. But looking at a photograph of a somewhat austere window display it is difficult to assess how enticing the shop was to the discerning customer. Perhaps the display of a few bolts of hand-woven cloth, tastefully draped, made a discreet statement about quality. There was also the fact that Barclay cloth was well known for its hard wearing qualities.

One of the women in the Barclay Workshop was Alice Field who was born in 1899 at Grant Street. Her case is particularly tragic bccause she was not born blind. But perhaps her eyes became inflamed shortly afterwards and when she was three days old some drops were put into her eyes which destroyed her sight completely. Presumably her parents acted with the best will in the world but we shall never know what the drops contained nor where the parents obtained them. At the age of five little Alice was sent to the junior department of the Barclay Home. Eventually she became a skilled weaver, weaving linen, tweed and serges under her first superintendent Miss Willoughby and subsequently under the delightfully named Miss Snowball.

A former employee of the Barclay Workshop remembers her time there with affection. It was hard work but there was plenty of laughter and good humour. Visitors were amazed at how blind girls could handle their machines so well and they were also mystified as to how they could differentiate between the colours, one even going so far as to ask if the colours 'felt' different. The prosaic truth was that the girls were told which colours they were using at the beginning of the day and it was skill and good memory which prevented them from jumbling them up. Of course sometimes mistakes occurred like the time when a girl did not realize she was reinforcing the heels and toes of her stockings with different colours. The result was certainly colourful and the news was greeted with much amusement by the other girls but it cannot have seemed funny to the poor girl who had the price of six pairs of stockings docked from her wages.

Sometimes a spool of wool would slip off the machine and it would take hours to unravel. It was a task usually undertaken on a Saturday morning and so 'Saturday morning' became a colloquialism amongst them for any jumbled mess.

While the girls worked at their machines they often enjoyed reciting or singing. In fact they enjoyed singing so much that most of them joined the Barclay Workshop Choir which took part in Musical Festivals, winning many certificates and once even the cup.

When the girls had finished their day's work they returned to their lodgings. For some it meant waiting for their paid guides to help them home and it was not unknown for the guides to forget to turn up. The partially sighted could manage to find their own way back. The girls would have a rota to the workshop bathroom for they were unlikely to have the luxury of a bath in their lodgings.

In 1965 the Barclay Workshop moved from its premises in Wellington Road to North Road, Preston. The reason being that a compulsory purchase order had been slapped on the old property in Wellington Road. The Barclay Workshop was there for forty-three years and the name has not been forgotten as the new block of sheltered flats is called Barclay House.

In a way it was hardly worth the move because the Barclay Workshop closed down for good in the mid 1970s. By this time most of the workers had retired and the machines had come to the end of their useful life.

As for the Blind School which had been run in association with the Barclay Workshop, it too closed down at about the same time. It was not then situated in Wellington Road, having been moved to Sunningdale, Berkshire in 1940. The remaining few girls went to Blatchington Court School in Seaford. All the properties were sold and some of the money came back to the Brighton Society for the Blind.

To many people St Dunstan's is synonymous with the care of the blind and yet under the terms of the charity, the help it gives to individuals is restricted to men and women whose blindness is accepted by the War Pensions Branch of the Department of Health and Social Security as being mainly due, or aggravated by, their service in the Armed Forces or Auxiliary Services such as the ARP. St Dunstan's also set up the Gubbay Trust which offers training etc. to ex-service men under 50 years of age whose blindness is not attributable to war service and similar help is given to members of uniformed organisations such as the Police or Fire Brigade who have lost their sight on duty.

However, a history of this sort would not be complete without a brief mention of St Dunstan's. It was started in 1915 by Sir Arthur Pearson who brought sixteen men to his house at Regent's Park where they could "learn to be blind." It so happened that the house was called St Dunstan's Lodge.

St Dunstan's had a connection with Brighton even then for in 1915 an annexe was opened in Queen's Road (shades of William Moon again). Later Brighton had the main convalescent and holiday home for all war-blinded in the south at West House. St Dunstan's was responsible for all war-blinded from 1922 and by 1920 it already had 100 ex-servicemen in its care.

The blind were taught the traditional crafts of basketry and mat making; to this was added joinery and when the new St Dunstan's was built all the tables in the dining room, constructed of Australian walnut, were made by St Dunstaners. Men were also taught poultry keeping, cobbling and how to be telephone operators.

The new St Dunstan's was built at Ovingdean on a site leased from Brighton Corporation. It was designed by Francis Lorne and built of fireproof steel and brick. It is a large six storey building facing the south west to catch the maximum amount of sun. Whatever one thinks about modern architecture Lord Fraser has a relevant point when he writes that "functional architecture St. Dunstan's has its critics, but none of them are blind." In other words the regular lay-out of each floor is a distinct advantage to the blind. As Lord Fraser wrote "the universal straight passages and rounded corners, the plain walls with the inevitable guide rails, may strike you as monotonous if you are sighted, but if you are blind you will appreciate their gift of freedom of movement and independence." The stairs are shallow and on the banisters near the top of each flight are studs to identify which floor was being approached. There were also swing gates to prevent anyone from toppling down stairs. A large winter garden was provided and there were plenty of sun balconies.

Unfortunately this splendid home was ready just in time for the Second World War which meant that the men were moved into their new quarters in October 1938 only to be evacuated before long to Church Stretton in Shropshire. However, the building did not stand idle and it was put to good use by the Admiralty. The Royal Navy's Torpedo School at Portsmouth, HMS Vernon, was bombed and a considerable portion of the establishment was transferred to St Dunstan's. It was not until 1946 that the blind people returned to St Dunstan's. They were greeted with a civic welcome and the Mayor of Brighton went on to the roof to hoist the blue and gold flag after an interval of nearly six years.

The war brought an unexpected bonus for blind persons in that they were practically the only people able to move about in the blackout with confidence. Lord Fraser (himself blind) went on the wireless with advice for the sighted entitled "Getting about in the Dark."

At the end of the war there were over 1,000 new war-blinded who needed St Dunstan's. But the skill in surgery had increased so much since the First World War that over 300 people regained some degree of vision. Ironically some men arriving at St Dunstan's in the 1940s had in fact been injured in the 1914-1918 war. Sometimes it took that long for a gassing to affect their eyesight.

By 1959 the statistics were that altogether over 5,000 blinded servicemen had been treated at St Dunstan's.

The Brighton Society for the Welfare of the Blind intended to keep its independence for as long as possible. Of course it worked closely with Brighton Council who provided it with grants but it was not too eager to rely solely on the RNIB for its income. At least in 1932 the Society resolved that the time was not yet right for any fund raising agreement between the two.

Later in the 1930s the Society was more concerned with the proposals to found a Blind Social Centre. But where to find premises? The old Swan Downer School was one suggestion and the Robertson Hall in Ship Street was another but even in those days there was enough traffc and congestion for the suggested sites to be a hazard for blind people.

In 1937 the Society found a building which met their requirements at 141 Preston Road but it was not until 1939 that it was finally ready for use. The Lantern was opened on 29 March 1939 by the Duchess of Hamilton. The ceremony took place in the Munro Ritchie Hall which had been intended as a permanent commemoration of the devoted work of Miss Elizabeth Munro Ritchie, for many years secretary of the Society. She had served the blind for 40 years and it was a pleasant touch that she was well enough to be present at the ceremony.

The problems of aged and infirm blind people living alone prompted the Society to think of a suitable house to buy which could be used as a home for them. In 1945 the Society chose 47 Surrenden Road which they named Kenilworth. It was no easy task to set up because it was difficult to get good staff. The first matron was appointed at £180 a year but she proved to be totally unsatisfactory and only lasted three months. The new matron started in 1946 and was much better although the poor lady did not receive as much salary as her predecessor. Perhaps the Society was being extra cautious this time. Anyway, matron was to earn £130 a year rising by annual increments of £10 to £200 a year. She was also to receive fourteen days annual holiday and a grant towards her superannuation.

Kenilworth was opened by the Mayor on 5th February 1946 and there were nine women and five men residents. By 1947, when Kenilworth had been operating smoothly for over twelve months, the venture was declared a success and there were now seventeen aged blind residents.

What with the National Health Act and the National Assistance Act of 1948, it was obvious that had the Society not bought and equipped Kenilworth, the Council would have been obliged to do something on similar lines. Although by 1950 the Committee would have preferred Kenilworth to be 100% theirs, it seemed inevitable that the Local Authority would be approached to purchase it. It was felt that the move would not be detrimental to the residents who would still be eligible for outings and entertainments provided by the Society.

The Charity Commissioners decided in 1951 that Kenilworth must not be sold for less than £4,000 with £330 for the contents. Whereas the Society could do what it liked with the latter sum, the Charity Commissioners were definitely interested in what happened to the former. A condition was that if the money were to be invested in real estate and at some later stage that real estate was to be sold, the resultant money would have to be sent to the Charity Commissioners to be invested by them on the Society's behalf. Gone were the days of Victorian self help - now it was all government bureaucracy and miles of red tape.

In spite of all this the work went on and by 1952 there were 430 civilian blind in Brighton and 21 partially sighted people. At Christmas time that year John Taylor of the Star and Garter Hotel generously sent grocery parcels valued at 12/6d each to 120 blind recipients. Meanwhile deliberations were going on as to the best way to celebrate Coronation Year and it was decided to make a special gift to Brighton's blind population. It took the form of a Scented Garden for the Blind which was laid out in Preston Park. It cost £1,100-3-7d but donations came from many sources and in the private sector the largest was received from the Brighton and Hove Butcher's Association (£396-5-0d).

The National Health Act of 1948 brought in a first class service to the blind and such services as home visiting, training in communication, the teaching of handicrafts and general rehabilitation were met out of public funds. At Brighton there was a close and happy liaison between the Local Authority and the Society who continued to arrange subsidised holidays, grants, loans and social activities. But there must have been many who wondered if the days of a locally based charity were not numbered.

But this is not so and the need for the local Society is stronger than ever. Apart from anything else there will always be a need for sighted volunteers to assist blind people in various ways. Then too the Society undertakes an astonishing range of services to the blind, acting in close association with other interested bodies like the RNIB. Such services need finance and in 1986 it proved necessary to sell 141 Preston Road. It was a sad day for many of Brighton's visually handicapped who had come to regard The Lantern as their second home but on the other hand it released a large capital sum which could be used for the benefit of all local blind people.

It is nice to know that our old friend the British Wireless for the Blind Fund is still in operation and every registered blind person is entitled to have one on loan. The Society acts as a distributing agent. The blind are as up to date as anyone else and many of them are radio hams. If such communication is appreciatcd by the ordinary citizcn, think how much more the contact is valued by the housebound blind person. Keeping up with the local news is also possible thanks to the Talking Newspaper service. Most blind people buy their own cassette player but if they are unable to do so, they are helped out of the Society's funds.

For the more mobile, all sorts of activities are arranged by the Society from ballroom dancing to country rambles in the summer and occasional outings. There are communal classes in pottery and cane work where the blind can benefit from social contact as well as learning a craft. Music, painting and drama also play an important part in their lives. Then there are weekly lessons in typing Braille and Moon.

Incidentally Dr Moon would surely be pleased to know that his system has been brought up to date and is now on a par with Braille because his alphabet can be written as well as read - thanks to electronics. No doubt Dr Moon would applaud the use of microchips to assist the blind which are used nowadays in speaking clocks and watches and in the marvellous Optacon. This device enables a blind person to read a page of ordinary print or typescript. It is not quick, as one letter at a time is read, but think of the satisfaction of being able to read documents at once instead of having to wait for a sighted person to read them out.

Most of the blind people are elderly and for them nothing can replace the dedicated and caring voluntary worker. But with scientific advancements and new equipment being designed, the way ahead promises more hope, both with technical assistance and in greater understanding of the problems of blindness.

Our story started with William Moon, threaded its way through the years and the sad match lady so it is only fitting that we should end with the microchip.

Barclay Workshops. Souvenir Booklet

Blind Relief and Visiting Society: Diamond Jubilee 1862-1922

Blind Relief and Visiting Society: Report 1915

Brighton Asylum for the Instruction of the Blind: Annual Reports 1909-1914 Brighton

Blind Relief Fund: Receipt Book 1872-1873

Brighton Herald 17 October 1964

Brighton Society for the Welfare of the Blind: Annual Reports 1915, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1934, 1937, 1938, 1942, 1983.

Brighton Society for the Welfare of the Blind: Case Histories 1925-1948

Brighton Society for the Welfare of the Blind: Minute Books 1932-1952

Brighton Society for the Welfare of the Blind: Scrapbook of Newspaper Cuttings

Burt (CT) The Moon Society - A Century of Achievement 1848-1948

Fraser (Lord) My Story of St Dunstan's (1961)

Gill (ME) District Nursing in Brighton 1877-1974

Moon (William) Incidents which occurred with Miss Graham and myself in the early years of our united efforts for the Blind. Manuscript book. Extract

Moon (William) Light for the Blind(1875)

Rutherford (J) William Moon LLD (1898)