Henshaws Society for Blind People

Henshaws Society for Blind People (founded in 1837), by Oldham businessman Thomas Henshaw, is a specialist charity providing support, advice and training to anyone affected by sight loss and other disabilities.

The charity has changed names three times. In 1921, it was 'Henshaw’s Institution for the Blind', in January 1971 it changed to 'Henshaw’s Society for the Blind', and then finally in 2000 to 'Henshaws Society for Blind People.'

Thomas Henshaw died in 1810, bequeathing £20,000 to establish an institution of the blind in Manchester. His will was contested by family members for 26 years, but was eventually upheld by the Court of Chancery in favour of the scheme.

Thomas Henshaw's will said that his ‘expectation that other persons at their expense purchase land and buildings’ for the institution. This was matched by public donations and subscriptions procured through a subscription list across the City and surrounding districts.

A Board of Management was chosen based on Henshaw’s directive that “all subscribers of two guineas or upwards, and donors in any one year of twenty guineas or upwards, shall form a Board of Management, to whom the whole direction and control of the Institutions be entrusted.”

In September 1834 the Board of Management of Henshaw’s Blind Asylum and Deaf and Dumb schools, jointly purchased a plot of land adjoining the botanical gardens at Old Trafford Manchester. In 1837 Henshaw's Blind Asylum, later known as Henshaw's Institution for the Blind, was founded in a building built with public contributions in Old Trafford.

In 1850 Mr. G.A. Hughes (first Governor of Henshaw's Blind Asylum) took out a patent for the Hughes Typograph, which he claimed to be the first typewriting machine. It was designed primarily to enable the blind to communicate with the sighted. A Hughes Typograph was awarded the gold medal at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851. One of these machines is in the Museum of the National Institute for the Blind, and another in the Science Section of the South Kensington Museum, where it is the oldest English Model - the one older machine is American.

In 1859 the Family of Lord Derby became the President of the Society, which tradition continues. In 1861 the asylum added workshop accommodation for brush-making; this was soon discontinued, although basket-making and mat-making continued. Outside blind workers were employed in addition to the inmates.

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Wikipedia