My great Uncle Wallace was born deaf and dumb, he was sent to the Royal School for the deaf in Preston which was a charity school, he lived in, his parents, my great grandparents, lived on a farm above Todmorden, I have two letters he wrote home to my great grandparents in 1924 and 1925, he was only 12, his writing was beautiful and he wrote in such a polite and endearing manner, it must have broken my great grandmas heart when he wrote :
'I am sorry that you and father cannot come to the open day to meet all my friends here, but I know the train travel is very costly'
He lived until he was 75 and after being trained as a carpenter he made beautiful individual carved pieces for churches and posh houses.
He was always deaf and dumb, and my family always referred to him as deaf and dumb,