| Administrative History | The Aberdeen & North East Deaf Society was established in 1895 as the Aberdeen Deaf & Dumb Benevolent Society. It was concerned for the betterment of the conditions of Deaf people in Aberdeen and bringing a greater quality of life to all Deaf people. Sir William Henderson, Thomas Ogilvie, the Rev S G Woodrow and Mr John Parker headed the creation of the Aberdeen Deaf & Dumb Benevolent Society and a provisional committee including these men and Rev William Clow and Mr John Leith was formed. The first committee meeting was held on Friday 17th May 1895.
During 1895, the appointed Executive Committee (Thomas Ogilvie - President, Thomas Lillie, Donaldson S Rose, G M Cook, Duff Henderson, William Garvie, Dr Mackenzie Booth, G T Woodrow, J Lyon, G Gunn and Edward Moore) met in Mr Rose’s office at 295 Union Street or the YMCA Institute. In later years, they also occupied the Parochial Rooms in Castle Street for social meetings, the East End Recreation Rooms in 1 West North Street, and the Free North Church Mission Hall in Mealmarket Street. In May 1900, a small office was obtained at 21 King Street. In 1902 the Society moved from the North United Free Church Hall (Mealmarket Street) to 11 Belmont Street (belonging to the Deaf and Dumb Institution). In 1904 the Society moved to 10 Bon Accord Terrace. By 1910, the society had raised enough money for its own building and a suitable site was found in Rose Street (the ground where the Bridewell Prison had been). The Architect was Mr Bennett Mitchell and the building was to contain a committee room, a chapel, a reading room, a large hall, a class room, a billiard room and two bathrooms. The new building opened on 1 Oct 1910.
60 years later, the society moved from Rose Street to 13 Smithfield Road (originally the site of All Souls’ Episcopal Church), which was bought by the society in 1971 (DD1563/2/3/3). An extension was built and opened by HRH Duke of Edinburgh in 1976.
The Society celebrated its centenary year in 1995 (DD1563/2/3/2) and went into liquidation in 2010. The building closed in June of that year.
[Prior to the establishment of the Aberdeen Deaf & Dumb Benevolent Society (to become the Aberdeen and North East Deaf Society), a society named the "Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Aberdeen" existed. This was established in 1819 and covered the North of Scotland, focusing on the education of Deaf people. It taught its pupils the ‘combined system’, which was partly oral and partly sign-manual]. |