'His Whole Nature requires Development': Education, School Life and Deafness in Wales, 1850-1914

The history of deaf education has focused heavily on one major issue: the role of sign language and the rise of oralism as a means of suppressing the use of signs. This was a crucial debate which affected the lives of deaf children, informed social and cultural attitudes towards deafness and in many cases spurred resistance from deaf communities. However, other aspects of daily school life and the curriculum of Victorian and Edwardian deaf schools have rarely been commented upon. Focusing on the Cambrian Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Wales' first deaf institution, this article will examine the teaching of writing and moral, religious and industrial education, all of which constructed an image of the intellectual and moral capabilities of the deaf child. The article will argue that deaf children were prescribed a moral and religious identity, and played an active role in wider Victorian and Edwardian discourses of education and childhood.