Visitor to Weaste Cemetery

On 22nd March, Rachel O'Neill from Edinburgh University came to see the grave of James Herriot, a deaf and dumb Tailor from Edinburgh who set up shop in Manchester in 1837. Rachel has written an "autobiography" of Herriot, how he had employed deaf people and taught them sign language and tailoring. Herriot was so disillusioned with the standard of teaching deaf people in Manchester that he founded the Manchester and Salford, Deaf and Dumb, Adult Benevolent Association. This act was frowned upon by the Manchester do-gooders who didn't believe that deaf and dumb people could organise themselves!