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YORKSHIRE INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND 

 DUMB. 



Public institutions for the deaf and dumb have been supported 

 in this country since the year 1792, when the Asylum in Kent- 

 road, London was formed. Since that period, institutions have 

 been established at Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Exeter, 

 and Doncaster. There are, also, institutions at Edinburgh, Glas- 

 gow, and Dublin. The institution at Doncaster was formed in 

 1829, for the instruction of deaf and dumb children of the county 

 of York; but such children of other counties are admissible into it 

 under certain provisions. It does not exist altogether on the gra- 

 tuitous principle. The parents of every child admitted, or the 

 parish to which it belongs, have to pay two shillings and sixpence a 

 week towards its support, as long as it continues in the institution ; 

 these payments are required to be made quarterly, and in advance. 

 No child is admitted under nine years of age, none are suffered to 

 remain after sixteen, and the term for which a pupil is allowed to 

 continue is five years. Another class of pupils is also received, who 

 pay £20 or £25 per annum ; the former sum if they reside in the 

 county of York, the latter if they reside in any other county. The 

 reason why a larger sum is charged to pupils from other parts of the 

 country than Yorkshire is, that the institution was established 

 entirely at the expense of the nobility and gentry of that county. 

 In case of poor children of other counties being taken, £19 is allow- 

 ed to be subscribed annually by residents in the county to which 

 such children belong, £6 annually being paid by the friends of the 

 child, or by its parish. The establishment is near the race-course 

 at Doncaster — an airy and a salubrious situation. It was opened for 

 the admission of pupils in November, 1829, and placed under the 

 direction of Mr. Charles Baker, formerly the second master at the 

 Birmingham Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. In 1831, the 

 committee, in whose management the superintendence of the insti- 

 tution is vested, agreed for the purchase of the whole premises, in a 

 part of which the school had been commenced. This purchase was 

 made at an expense of £3,000, and about £500 have since been 

 spent in alterations. These premises consist of a house capable of 

 accommodating nearly one hundred pupils, together with apartments 

 for the master and his family, for the second class pupils, for private 

 pupils, and for all the requisite assistants ; three acres of land are 

 also attached to the premises. In 1829, fifteen boys were admitted; 

 in 1830, this number was increased to thirty-two — twenty boys and 

 twelve girls ; in 1832, the number of pupils was increased to fifty ; 

 in 1834, to sixty ; and the present number of pupils is 70 — thirty- 

 eight boys and thirty-two girls. The annual income, derived 

 chiefly from voluntary subscriptions throughout the county of York, 

 exceeds £1,000. The payments on behalf of pupils, during the 



