Our history

‘I shall soon be blind but I will never be a blind man, I am going to be the blind man’. These are the words, spoken in 1913, by Arthur Pearson who went blind through glaucoma. He was a newspaper proprietor, owner and founder of the Daily Express and Pearson’s Weekly and also a great supporter of the Boy Scout Movement. In the same year Pearson joined the council of the National Institute for the Blind (now Royal National Institute of Blind People) and in 1914 became their first President and Treasurer.

In 1914 the Great War brought another change of direction. Soldiers were being blinded on the battlefields and began arriving at hospitals in England. Once notified of the casualties Arthur Pearson or a member of staff usually visited the young men taking them a tactile watch, symbolising their first step to independence.

Towards the end of 1914 it was agreed that more needed to be done for the blinded soldiers so Pearson, who firmly believed that they could lead useful and fulfilling lives, set his ideas in motion for a new training centre with the assistance of the National Institute for the Blind.

In February 1915 two blinded soldiers moved into 6 Bayswater Hill in London, a property lent by Mrs Lewis Hall a generous benefactor. This was called the Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Hostel and was only temporary whilst the new training centre was being modified.

An American Banker, Otto Kahn lent his residence St Dunstan’s Lodge to Arthur Pearson for the duration of the war. This was spacious and the grounds extended over twelve acres. On 26 March 1915, sixteen blinded soldiers and sailors moved in to embark upon a revolutionary rehabilitation and training programme. The aim was to enable the majority to return to as normal a life as was possible and earn a living.

St Dunstaners could choose to train in massage (physiotherapy), shorthand typing, telephone operating, poultry farming, carpentry, basket and mat making, boot and shoe repairing. Braille was also taught which enabled the individual to read and write. Some struggled to master the six dot permutation of Louis Braille’s ingenious but intricate system of reading by fingertips. Sport was a key part of rehabilitation and they enjoyed rowing, swimming, competing in walking races, goal shooting and tandem cycling. St Dunstaners formed their own band and dancing was a popular diversion.

St Dunstan’s also trained blind ex-Service men from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia as they were part of the British Imperial Forces. One of the first men to undergo training was Private Charles Henry Hills who had lost his sight at Brown’s Dip, Gallipoli. He was born in Orpington, Kent and was a teamster in Australia before the war. He trained in poultry farming and returned to Australia in April 1916 to pursue this occupation. With the assistance of another sighted but disabled ex-soldier they built Charles’s new poultry farm in six months.

By the end of 1918 over six hundred men had already trained, seven hundred were in training and two hundred were still in hospital. As a result of the large numbers more properties were required around the country. An annexe in Torquay was set up to treat those with other injuries on top of their sight loss, such as loss of limbs, shell shock and partial paralysis. Convalescent homes were situated at Ilkley, Blackheath, Hastings and West House in Kemp Town, Brighton, which was presented to St Dunstan’s in 1918 by the Federation of Grocers’ Association of the United Kingdom.

At the end of the 1920s Otto Kahn informed Pearson that he was shortly returning to London from America and that he wished to have St Dunstan’s Lodge returned. So in early 1921 St Dunstan’s moved into St John’s Lodge, another large property in Regent’s Park.

Arthur Pearson was made a Baronet in 1916 in recognition of his work for the war blind and awarded the G.B.E in 1917. Tragically on 9 December 1921, aged only 55, Sir Arthur Pearson drowned after slipping in the bath. On 13 December a funeral service was held at Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone and a special service was arranged at Hampstead Cemetery, where Sir Arthur is buried.

Ian Fraser, a Captain in the King’s (Shropshire Light Infantry) was blinded by a bullet on 23 July 1916 on the Somme. In 1916 he became a St Dunstaner and trained at Regent’s Park until 1917. By then Ian had started work as Pearson’s assistant and started the After Care Department, by 1921 he had become the second in command. Sir Arthur Pearson’s personal assistant was a lady called Irene Mace and in 1918 she married Ian Fraser. On the death of Pearson in 1921 Ian took over as Chairman at the age of 24. If this was not enough responsibility in 1922 he entered the London County Council and in 1924 he was the Member of Parliament for North St Pancras. Ian was knighted in 1934 and remained Chairman until his death in 1974 after 53 years of service.

By 1935 West House was fully occupied and with the possibility of another war looming plans were made for a new purpose built centre. Land was purchased at Ovingdean, Brighton and the building was designed in the shape of an aeroplane by Francis Lorne. It was completed in 1938 and called St Dunstan’s Ovingdean. In October that year men from the First World War stayed there for either a holiday or to convalesce. By the end of the year more than 300 had spent a period of time there. A St Dunstaner commented ‘My first impression on entering the home was one of amazement, bewilderment and finally the simplicity of it all. If a man is not happy there he will not be happy anywhere’.

War had broken out and the new centre was about to undergo some changes. Dormitories became wards and a new hospital wing was built over the garages. This included an ultra modern and perfectly equipped operating theatre, which was a generous gift from a benefactor. Senior nursing staff from Moorfields Eye Hospital joined St Dunstan’s and one of the best ophthalmic surgeons in the country diagnosed and operated on Servicemen who had eye injuries.

The criteria for admittance to St Dunstan’s was extended to include those blinded whilst members of the Auxiliary Services, Women’s Services and in munitions factories. When the air raids began, police, firemen and those serving in all branches of civil defence were also eligible.

In 1940 as the war moved across France the South Coast was declared too dangerous so St Dunstan’s Ovingdean and West House were evacuated. A new war time training centre was established at Church Stretton in Shropshire and 700 blinded Service men and women were trained there.

This new generation of St Dunstaners were taught by instructors who had been blinded in the First World War, which set a most valuable example to the pupils. They learnt braille, typing, mobility and trained in numerous occupations. New skills were taught in the machine shop such as training on lathes, presses, routers and upholstery equipment, as a result they were able to take up jobs in factories. Sport, dancing, amateur dramatics and music also played an important part in re-education.

Lady St Dunstaners arrived at Church Stretton for training after being blinded as a result of explosions at munitions factories. In some cases they suffered facial burns, hearing problems and damage or loss of their hand or hands. A Sergeant in the Auxiliary Territorial Service was totally blinded in 1942 at the age of 21 when her train was bombed on the way to a training exercise. She was St Dunstan’s first woman physiotherapist passing her finals in 1946.

In 1946 St Dunstan’s left Church Stretton and returned to Ovingdean and West House. At this time there were 1,673 St Dunstaners from the First War and 686 from the Second World War.

A former Royal Air Force Engineer joined the staff of St Dunstan’s as the research engineer in 1947. Over a period of nearly 40 years he designed and made gadgets for the use of St Dunstaners in industry and for those who were doubly handicapped for use in daily life and recreation. They included adaptations to radio sets which allowed the blind and handless to operate them independently, watches fitted with a plunger which told the time when pressed down, a cigarette machine which produced the cigarette already lit and a machine which enabled shop keepers to identify coins.

In 1948 St Dunstan’s Headquarters moved to 191 Old Marylebone Road which had formerly been Queen Charlotte’s Hospital. In 1957 West House in Kemp Town, Brighton was renamed Pearson House in memory of Sir Arthur Pearson and in 1984 St Dunstan’s moved to a new building in Harcourt Street, London.

In 1965 St Dunstan’s ceased appealing for funds as it was thought that the financial resources would be adequate for the foreseeable future. Little did they realise that there would be a third generation of young St Dunstaners and that the Second World War men and women would be living longer and that we needed to care for a number of widows and widowers. In this period there were 1,552 St Dunstaners from the United Kingdom and 699 from overseas.

As a result of the amendment to our constitution we still see a large influx of admissions. A number of Service personnel blinded in the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns have also joined the organisation.

St Dunstan’s will continue to fulfil the vision of Sir Arthur Pearson, enabling visually impaired ex-Service men and women to continue to live independently as possible.

Our History must not be reproduced or used in any other publication without prior consent. If you have any queries or require further information please contact Collections & Archives who will be only too pleased to assist you.

E-mail: archives@st-dunstans.org.uk
Tel: 020 7723 5021 Extn: 7933
Collections & Archives,
St Dunstan’s,
12-14 Harcourt Street,
London
W1H 4HD