Disability in 18th Century Britain

Disability in 18^th century Britain was common and found across all levels of society. Ignorance about health and hygiene, poor diets, illness, accidents, little to no neo-natal care, dangerous working conditions and wars all meant a person’s chances of being born, or becoming, disabled were much greater.

For Disability History Month, let’s look at what life was like for a disabled person in 18^th century Britain.

Beliefs about Disability in the 18^th Century

Last year, I wrote about historical thinking regarding disability. During the 18^th century, the Enlightenment changed thinking regarding disability; it was no longer considered an act of divine providence but recognised as the result of an accident or unfortunate circumstances, such as illness.

New hospitals were built specifically to provide care and education for blind, deaf, mute and lame children. Institutions like the Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury and the School for the Indigent Blind taught disabled children to weave baskets and play instruments, so they had means to earn a living in adulthood.

disability in 18th century britain — Courtyard at the south front of the Royal Hospital Chelsea (2009) CC BY-SA 3.0

The Greenwich Hospital for Seamen and the Royal Chelsea Hospital (still operating today) also provided residential care for veteran sailors and soldiers, respectively, who had been injured in their service of King and country.

Society advocated greater understanding and compassion for those with a disability and recognised their need for care and support. However, that did not make life any easier for the disabled in a world that was already harsh to navigate, especially for the poor.

Disabled people were expected to work, and they wanted to work and built networks that enabled them to do so. They may have been able to claim poor relief from their local church parish, but it was difficult to get.

The Disabled Poor

Most work in the 18^th century involved hard, physical labour and disability often lead to destitution. The cities were rife with beggars and the disabled formed a sub-section of the vagrant community.

The disabled were a common sight on the streets, doing what they had to do to earn a living in a society that expected them to support themselves. Most of what we know about the disabled poor comes from court records. Unfortunately, in their efforts to survive, many turned to crime.

In 1716, pedestrians in London were warned to take care when walking around Lincoln’s Inn at night because it was a regular occurrence for beggars to knock down passersby with their crutches and rob them.

The disabled had to be highly inventive regarding the tools they used to help them get around. Some built their own means of transportation and were referred to as “go-carts” and “sledge beggars”, others as “billies in bowls”.

Legless “Philip-in-the-tub” traversed the streets of London in a hollowed out wooden tub and pushed or pulled himself along with two wooden blocks. He sold the lyrics for popular ballads and sheet music, and features below in the engravings by William Hogarth as part of his Industry and Idleness morality series.

Charles M’Gee, a Jamaican-born beggar, had a “stand” at the foot of Ludgate Hill after losing an eye and was very popular amongst the thousands who used the busy crossing.

“Black people, as well as those destitute of sight, seldom fail to excite compassion.”
John Thomas Smith, Vagabondia, Or Anecdotes of Mendicant Wanderers through the Streets of London (1815)

Let’s not forget, thanks to the lessons provided by institutions, blind musicians inhabited every street corner. Groups of blind musicians were also employed to play at orgies in Covent Garden. I imagine their working conditions were… interesting.

The More Fortunate Disabled

If you were lucky enough to be born into a wealthy family or knew people in high places, you may have been able to call upon their support.

It was easy for the rich to care for their disabled relatives in the comfort of their homes and hire a nurse to see to their every need. They could also afford wheelchairs and all the additional tools, like ear trumpets, that made life for their disabled friend or relative much easier.

Being deaf and mute, Duncan Campbell could be considered lucky when he was presented to George I at the Royal Court in 1720. For the next ten years, he mingled among high society working as a “professional predictor” (clairvoyant). He communicated through writing, gestures or finger spelling.

Defying the Odds

Finding a lucrative profession when disabled in the 18^th century was very much because of one’s wealth and who one knew. It was not impossible to defy the odds, and there were several disabled individuals who did so.

During the golden age of portrait painting, several disabled artists found success:

Richard Crosse – a deaf painter – became a court painter for George III.
Joshua Reynolds—the favourite painter of high society, and first president of the Royal Academy—had become partially deaf as a young man.
Sarah Biffin (sometimes spelled Biffen) was born without arms and only vestigial legs in 1784. Her life deserves its own post, and I’m skipping a lot here, but she taught herself to write and paint with her mouth. She was commissioned to paint miniature portraits of the royal family, and in 1821 was awarded a medal for her miniatures by the Society of Arts.

Away from the arts, John Fielding, brother of magistrate and author, Henry Fielding, lost his sight in 1742 and wore a black band across his eyes. John was also a skilled magistrate and was equally responsible for establishing the famous Bow Street Runners (the predecessors of the first London police force).

Let’s not forget the leader of the British fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. Vice-admiral Lord Horatio Nelson commanded the navy to victory (before he was shot and killed, of course) despite losing an arm during a previous battle and being blind in one eye.

Dark Times Loomed

While compassion may have dominated thinking about disability in the 18^th century, things were about the get worse for the disabled thanks to the Industrial Revolution. British society now placed greater importance on the value of rigorous manual labour, and attitudes to the disabled hardened.

The Poor Law Act of 1834 meant that claiming poor relief was even more difficult. Beggars were frowned upon and seen as a menace to hard working society. Those who had supported themselves before had no choice but to rely upon charity. As the name suggests, Victorian workhouses did not support those who could not work, and the disabled were abandoned to face destitution.

So, sticking to form, the Victorians transformed the more tolerant and enlightened thinking about the vulnerable of society, and turned them into worthless individuals undeserving of support.

As you’ll have noticed, I’ve not included mental illness. I would like to research that for a separate post, but I know it will be rather depressing, so I need to pluck up the courage to delve into that murky and brutal history.