A guide to researching records of disability

The following guide lists a selection of sources which can be used to help uncover information about disability in the records held at Derbyshire Record Office.

For the purpose of this guide the term disability is taken to be physical or sensory impairment and those long-term injuries or conditions which have historically been treated as disabilities. The majority of the records were created by officials and organisations rather than people with disabilities themselves.

Historical records reflect the period in which they were created. Language within records once in common use and seen as acceptable is now offensive, pejorative, and discriminatory.  To ensure accuracy, transparency, and representation in our record descriptions, original creator language has been retained, you will therefore find pejorative words within the item descriptions.

The record office is committed to making the records relating to disability history held within our collection more visible and to ensure that these records are catalogued in a way which respects the communities and individuals to which they relate. We are working to achieve this through the improvement of catalogue descriptions, removing and/or contextualising offensive terminology.

The record office online catalogue can be searched for keywords (including offensive terms) such as:

disability, disabled, invalid, patient, inmate, asylum, deaf, dumb, blind, lunatic, imbecile, idiot.

Census records

Information recorded on the census included references to disability.  Free access to the ancestry website is available at the record office and all Derbyshire libraries.

Census for the District of Glossop, 1881

Almshouses

Almshouses, run as charities, provided long term support and accommodation for people with disabilities and the elderly. Founded and supported with donations from wealthy benefactors the almshouse became a common feature of towns and cities.

The records of almshouses found in the record office collections include minutes and financial records, plans of property, and in some cases registers of residents.

For a full list of records relating to almshouses, search the record office’s online catalogue. Collections include:

John Higgs Almshouses

Cromford Almshouses

Sir John Port (1514-1557), was a landowner and former Sheriff of Derbyshire. In his will of 1556 he established a charity bequeathing land to fund a hospital and almshouse at Etwall, along with a grammar school at Repton – for more information see the ‘Asylums and Hospitals’ section below. Originally for 6 almsmen, that hospital was rebuilt in 1681 and the almsmen doubled to 12, later increasing to 16. Women were admitted in 1916. The records of the Sir John Port’s Charity including Etwall Hospital (almshouses) include a ‘Register of Alms men’, listing those who resided in the almshouses. The register also includes a list of the “Duties of the nurse of Etwall Hospital” from 1821. These duties included “To wait upon and diligently attend the sick and infirm” and “To make the beds of those Alms men who either thro infirmity of Body, or loss of sight are unable to assist themselves”.

Register of Almsmen at Etwall Hospital, 1785-1918 (D3377/1/1)

Elizabeth Tomlinson Charity

Charities and societies

The record office holds over 200 collections for local charities and assistance organisations, including many for local branches of national and international charities. Organisations range from those at regional to local level. Documents relating to national charities can be found within business and family and estate papers. See our Guide on the records of societies and voluntary bodies.

Charities include:

Chesterfield and District Society for the Deaf

Riding for the Disabled: East Midlands Association

Derbyshire Coalition of Disabled People

The Ancient Order of Foresters – This organisation operated as a provider of insurance, offering life and other types of assurance, and sickness and disability benefits. The Order was divided into branches, known as courts. The record office holds records of branches throughout the county

Derbyshire Association for the Care of the Blind

Report of the Derbyshire Association for the Care of the Blind, 1915, from the papers of Messrs Brooke Taylor and Company of Bakewell, solicitors, (D504/141/10/3/2)

Swadlincote Friends of the Blind

John Hunter of Belper (1853-1937) – Invalid Children’s Aid Association – John Hunter was a Justice of the Peace and member of Belper Urban District Council. This collection includes personal, charity, antiquarian and other papers, including minutes of the Invalid Children’s Aid Association.

Parishes

An Act of Parliament in 1536 legislated for organised relief at the parish level.  Other acts were passed throughout the Tudor period, including the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which required parishes to appoint two Overseers of the Poor to collect money through the poor rate to redistribute to those in need.  This resulted in the creation of a series of records concerning individuals right to claim and settle in a particular parish. These records are described in more detail in our Guide to the records of Poor Relief and Workhouses and can provide details on individuals receiving parish relief and the reasons for requiring it, including disabilities. Our Guide to Anglican Ecclesiastical records provides information on these and other records within parish collections.

The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act saw the shift from such localised parish-focused assistance to the creation of the Poor Law Union administrative units, focusing relief on the workhouse.

Workhouses

Poor Law Unions, consisting of several parishes grouped together, were created following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834.  Each Union built its own workhouse administered by Boards of Guardians elected by parishioners.  This meant that the majority of the poor were housed, fed and set to work (if able) rather than given money to look after themselves. Originally designed to house the non-disabled poor, workhouses increasingly housed elderly, ill, and people with disabilities, with many becoming hospitals in the early 20^th century. Our Guide to the record of Poor Relief and Workhouses provides further information.

Excerpt from the Chesterfield Poor Law Union and Board of Guardians Relieving officer’s report book, 1877 (D522/CW/21/3). Robert Hardwick is recorded as being “Wholly [disabled] by Rheumatism lost the use of his Legs”.

Asylums and Hospitals

Counties were given powers to build asylums for people with mental health conditions, or “pauper lunatics” in 1808 and this was made compulsory in 1853.

From the 19^th century Derbyshire had two main asylums, Derby County Lunatic Asylum later known as Pastures Hospital and the Derby Borough Asylum, later known as Kingsway Hospital.

The County Asylum opened in 1851. The visiting committee reported to the court of Quarter Sessions until 1888 and subsequently to the county council, until the asylum (known as the mental hospital after 1929) was transferred to regional hospital boards under the 1947 National Health Service Act. It was renamed Pastures Hospital in the mid-twentieth century and closed in 1993 as part of the NHS reorganisation of mental health care. Derby Borough Asylum, later Kingsway Hospital, opened in 1888 with 27 patients. Both hospitals were taken over by the National Health Service in 1948.

Both collections include records of patients, including people with disabilities and mental health conditions.  Mental health conditions and learning and physical disability was viewed and treated very differently in the past and the language found within these records can be offensive and the treatment described upsetting.

Sir John Port (1514-1557), was a landowner and former Sheriff of Derbyshire. In his will of 1556 he left land to fund a hospital and almshouse at Etwall, along with a grammar school at Repton. For information on the almshouse, see the ‘Almshouses’ section above. The modern hospital became an isolation hospital in 1902 and by 1979, the 94 bed hospital had become a rehabilitation centre for patients with locomotor disabilities after orthopaedic surgery, accidents, strokes, amputations, arthritis, neurological and neurosurgical conditions run by Derbyshire Area Health Authority. The collection includes administrative and patient records.

Sir John Port Hospital and Almshouses, Etwall (www.picturethepast.org ref: DCHQ000496)

The Devonshire Royal Hospital and Buxton Bath Charity was founded in 1779 to pay for poorer people in the community to have access to the healing waters of Buxton, for the treatment of rheumatism, gout and various other conditions.  The charity, which in 1934 became the Devonshire Royal Hospital, was incorporated into the National Health Service in 1948 and provided treatments for acute conditions, rheumatism and allied diseases, orthopaedics and rehabilitation.

Government and Local Authority records

Along with the Health Authorities, the records of local authorities can include information on how changes in law impacted on those living in Derbyshire and how county and district councils provided support for the community.

The records of Derbyshire County Council include the Blind Persons Act Committee Minute Books. Under the 1920 Blind Persons Act, required local authorities to “promote the welfare of blind persons”. This function passed to the new Welfare Committee in 1948.

The County’s Medical Officer of Health records include correspondence regarding the Blind Persons Act 1920.

Schools

The Derby Royal School for the Deaf (initially called the Deaf and Dumb Institution) was founded by Dr W R Roe at Mount Pleasant in 1873. The school developed into the Midland Deaf and Dumb Institution which was founded in 1879 and moved into new premises in Friargate, Derby, in 1894. It was later known as the Royal Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, then Royal School (and College) for the Deaf. In the early 1970s it moved to a purpose-built building on part of the former playing fields between Queensway and Ashbourne Road, Derby. The records are of the founding and running of the school rather than of individual pupils.

The record office holds material relating to schools throughout the county for children with special educational needs. Use our online catalogue to search for schools using “special schools” as a search term.

Quarter Sessions

The court of quarter sessions were local courts held four times a year at Epiphany (January), Easter, Midsummer and Michaelmas (Autumn). The court dealt with local government administration and less serious crimes (serious crime being dealt with at the court of Assize). As the forerunner of county councils, the court also had responsibility for individuals in the community and the records of Quarter Sessions can help us discover attitudes towards disabled people in society.

Quarter Session records include lists of men eligible for Jury Service. An Act of 1825 instructed high constables to order Overseers to compile jury lists and return them to the Clerk of the Peace. They were registered in a book given to the Sheriff. From 1875, lists of jurors were returned to Petty Sessional Divisions which sent copies on to Quarter Sessions.  Information in the lists can include occupation or status, nature of qualification, with occasional comments such as whether deaf or infirm.

Lunacy records dating 1827-1937, can also be found within the Quarter Session papers. These records include Overseers returns, returns of numbers and condition of ‘idiots and lunatics’; returns of pauper lunatics from Poor Law Unions and annual lists of patients at the Derby County Lunatic Asylum.

Health Authorities/Community Health Councils

The records of regional Health Authorities and Community Health Councils can be a good source of information regarding changes in law and developments in provision of care and support.

Collections include reports of the North Derbyshire Health Authority and other health-related bodies including North Derbyshire Community Health Council and North Derbyshire Health Care Service. Records include annual reports of the North Derbyshire Community Health Care Service Disability Resource Team, 1995. The records of the Southern Derbyshire Community Health Council include correspondence relating to Community Health Councils and the Disability Discrimination Act, 1999-2000.

Employment records

Disabilities can be caused through accident or injury in the workplace and the records of businesses and industries can be excellent sources of information. Records can include accident books, compensations records and sick club records. See our Guide to finding the records of Derbyshire businesses.

The aim of the recent record office project ‘Mining the Seams’, was to catalogue the coal mining documents we received from the National Coal Board (NCB). The project followed the previous ‘Miners’ Health and Welfare project to catalogue the archive of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Derbyshire area. Both projects had a particular focus on the medical and compensation records which can provide details of long-term disabilities caused by workplace accidents and injuries.

The NUM records are particularly strong on welfare and disputes about sickness and industrial injury benefits, which were handled through the Local and Medical Appeal Tribunals. Data from these tribunals and other records can be searched and downloaded on the Mining the Seams website.

The NUM archive also includes records of the Derbyshire Miners’ Welfare Convalescent Home and Holiday Centres. Certain weeks during the year were reserved for retired mineworkers and those with disabilities or who were permanently sick. In the 1950s a block was opened at the holiday centre to accommodate permanently disabled or sick miners.

Colour plan of the Derbyshire Miners’ Welfare Holiday Centre, Skegness, c1939 (D1920/4/3/2)

Events

In 1946 a scheme was proposed to provide a village as a memorial to the men and women of Derby Borough who gave their lives during the Second World War. The scheme was launched in 1947 to provide model dwellings for the disabled ex-servicemen in the War Memorial Village in Allenton. It was administered by a Council of Management of 24 members, elected from the Association of the War Memorial Village, of which the Mayor of Derby was President.

Artist’s impression of Allenton War Memorial Model Village, 1949 (D3067/7/1-10)

In 1899 a letter from Queen Victoria to the Archbishop of Canterbury was sent out to Church of England parishes. In this letter, Victoria asked for a collection of funds to be gathered by the parishes of England and Wales for the care of those sick, wounded and disabled soldiers engaged in the the Boer War.

The Queen’s Letter from the records of Cubley and Marston Montgomery parish (D1137/7)

Records of families and individuals

Collections, such as those of families and estates, may hold the records of individuals who have a disability.  Airmyne Jenney (1919-1999), granddaughter of Sir Vauncey Harpur Crewe, 10^th Baronet of Calke Abbey, was a lover of animals, especially horses.  During the Second World War whilst training heavy horses at the Army Remount Centre at Melton Mowbray, she was kicked in the head by a horse, an injury which resulted in her losing the ability to speak. Whilst we do not have many records of Airmyne in the Harpur Crewe collection here at the record office we do hold correspondence of her mother Frances Caroline Jenney (nee Harpur Crewe) covering 1897-1960. It is possible that there may be references to Airmyne’s accident in these papers so there is opportunity for further research to be undertaken. Some of the papers for the Harpur Crewe family remain at Calke Abbey, including a workbook belonging to Airmyne, showing exercises for pronouncing letters.

Staying within the Harpur Crewe family, through research carried out at Calke Abbey, now a National Trust property, using original records relating to George Crewe (1795-1844), it is believed that the 8^th baronet experienced anxiety and what we would now term as panic attacks.  Here at the record office we hold some of George’s diaries, journals, and personal papers, which again could be a source of further research. For more information on Airmyne and George, see Calke Abbey’s ‘Stories of Kindness and Compassion’.

The letters of celebrated nurse Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, held here at the record office provide a glimpse into the health and welfare of individuals living in Lea and Holloway, near to the Nightingale’s Derbyshire home, Lea Hurst.  Included in these letters are references to illness and disabilities, including the case of Charles Henry Lee, or “little Lee” as he was referred to, who Florence indicates had a congenital disability of the spine. You can read more on Charles, known as Harry, and others cared for by Florence, on our blog.

Images of these letters, along with many others written by Florence Nightingale from archives and libraries across several countries, have been made freely available through Boston University’s ‘Florence Nightingale Digitisation Project’ website.

Local Studies Library collections

Along with local newspapers, which will record elements of the lives of individuals and work of institutions, the Local Studies collection also includes articles, magazines, periodicals and publications relating to disability. Collections include ‘Reach: the magazine for Derbyshire families with disabled children’ from Derbyshire County Council, the ‘Invalid Children’s Aid Association silver jubilee year book 1977 Derbyshire edition’ and ‘A village hero’ by Rosemary Pykett, a publication about coal miner Harold Pound (1898-1963) of Marehay, who served in the First World War with the Derbyshire Regiment, and lost both legs below the knee to frostbite whilst maintaining cable railways in the Italian Alps. Following the war, Harold returned to the mines, working above ground in the lamp-cabin at New Denby Colliery.

Access

Access may be restricted to records dating within 100 years which contain sensitive personal information. If you wish to view these records, please contact us for further information.