In 1960, looking for a new joband a change of life, I foundan ad for Appeals andPublicity Assistant at St

Dunstan’s – the charity set up in1915 to help men and womenblinded on war service. I had nevergiven much thought to blindness,but I had heard of St Dunstan’s.

I applied and reported for myinterview. It was only after I hadanswered several questions that Irealized, to my surprise, that theman behind the desk was blind. Hisname was Robin Buckley and he haddeveloped the trick of turning hishead towards the sound of the voicehe heard. He was blinded whileserving in the Royal Navy whendismantling an Italian explosivemotor boat. He became my boss.

I soon discovered that Robin wasnot the only war-blinded head ofdepartment. In addition to thePublicity Department, three otherswere headed by St Dunstaners, asthey were called: the IndustrialDepartment, responsible for findingemployment and supporting StDunstaners in their work; the EstateDepartment, which found andmaintained homes; and the Research

Department. They all reported totheir chairman, Sir Ian Fraser, whohad been blinded on the Somme inthe First World War. I began torealize I had joined a rather specialorganization, little knowing thenthat I would work for the charity forthe next 33 years.

Changing attitudesIan Fraser was only 18 in 1916 whenhe arrived, totally blind, at Regent’sPark, where the founder of StDunstan’s, Sir Arthur Pearson, hadestablished his training centre.Within a year, Fraser had become SirArthur’s assistant. Later he wouldsucceed him as chairman.

Arthur Pearson was a successfulnewspaper proprietor, owningPearson’s Weekly, the Daily Expressand the London Evening Standard.He became blind through glaucoma.When his sight failed, Sir Arthur issaid to have to have told his wife, ‘Iwill never be a blind man, I will be theblind man.’ He lived up to his wordsby becoming president of the NationalInstitute for the Blind after achievinggreat success in fundraising.

When the First World War beganSir Arthur was quick to recognize

that there would be blind casualtiesand he led a committee that broughtabout the foundation of StDunstan’s. His aim for the blindedsoldiers was: ‘They should be taughtto read and write in the embossedtype [Braille], assisted to acquiresome occupation and generallytrained to become active, self-reliantand self-helpful.’

Turning lives aroundIn my work I had manyopportunities to meet with thosewho had lived through the earlyyears of St Dunstan’s. Some youmight describe as ‘living history’,like Tommy Milligan, the secondman to join St Dunstan’s, who in mytime was a resident in PearsonHouse, a St Dunstan’s home inBrighton. A tall, urbane, retiredbusinessman speaking French andGerman, Tommy was a youngpastry cook when he volunteered forthe Irish Guards on his 18thbirthday. He was blinded in action atLa Bassée in December 1914 and wasamong a convoy of wounded menthat arrived in Cardiff. On hearingthat Tommy was in hospital there,Pearson travelled to Cardiff himself

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David Castleton tells us about the organization and the people who havegiven a helping hand to generations of war-blinded men and women

St Dunstan’sGuiding Lights

ST DUNSTAN’S VILLA, the training centre in Regent’s Park. To the leftis the clock, removed from the Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-Westwhen it was demolished in 1828 and installed at the Regent’s Parkmansion. The charity took the name St Dunstan’s from the clock.

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to take Tommy back to London.Tommy told me, ‘I had great trust

in him because I had often readPearson’s Weekly and I knew he was aman of distinction. He was a manwho inspired confidence as soon asyou met him. He told me about hisblindness going up in the train.’Tommy’s words sum up Pearson’sachievements in reshaping the livesof some 2,000 young men facing thetrauma of blindness. He wasfamous, he inspired confidence and,above all, he too was blind.

As well as learning Braille andtyping, Tommy trained as a masseur.He also told me about the sporting lifein Regent’s Park. He was a keenoarsman. ‘We used to get up at six inthe morning, if we wished, have a cupof tea and go to the lake in Regent’sPark and row. We had a lot of nicegirls; some of them were shop girlsand they used to have their breakfastsearly, get there about seven and takeus out rowing, coxing our boats.Rowing was all I was good at really.’

As well as rowing there was racewalking around the park, penaltyshooting at goal kept by Arsenal’sgoalkeeper, Ernie Williamson, andathletics. The favourite event was the100-yard sprint. The best time was10.8 seconds, running blind overrough ground and guided by a rope!

A drawing of a handsome youngblinded soldier being guided by asmall girl became a potent symbol infundraising, but this was not aninvention. Ruby Smith, thegardener’s daughter, had the run ofthe grounds and, young as she was,recognizing that all these men in herworld could not see, would taketheir hand and guide them. ‘I used

to go up to them and chat and we’djust walk around holding hands,’she said many years later as MrsRuby Crane. ‘If they wanted to go toa certain workshop I knew them allby heart. I always remember howmy little hand felt so small in theirs.’

One of the sisters who taughtBraille was Grace Stacey. She hadbecome Grace Hollins when she toldme that teaching was on a one-to-one basis. ‘In the Braille Room therewere a number of instructors atdifferent tables. You could do this asyou liked. I mean, if a man wasfussing you didn’t make it worse ifyou could help. I taught them thesame way as I learnt myself,showing the foundation of six dots.’

Pearson soon recognized thatfeelings of helplessness in a newlyblind trainee could be helped if herealized that his instructor was blindhimself. Able pupils nearing the endof their training began to be used inthis role. One of them was TommyRogers. ‘I had helped some of thefresh trainees to type their ownletters,’ said Tommy, ‘with the resultthat when a new typing teacher wasrequired the post was offered to me.When I accepted the light began todisperse the mist of frustration. Onceagain, I was a useful member ofsociety.’ Tommy went on to work forSt Dunstan’s for 26 years and taughta new generation of St Dunstaners inthe Second World War.

Wartime moveIn 1938, St Dunstan’s opened a newhome high on the cliffs atOvingdean, near Brighton. It wasdesigned for the comfort and safetyof blind people. With war looming, asmall eye hospital was added for eyecasualties. Neither was used for verylong as the German advance to theother side of the Channelnecessitated evacuation. Fraser andhis staff found a place for theirwartime centre in Church Stretton, asmall town in Shropshire, and aninvasion of war-blinded men andwomen began to descend there.

Social HistorySt Dunstan’s guiding lights

THEY’RE OFF! The start of a walking race around Regent’s Park for St Dunstaners and theirsighted escorts in 1923.

IN 1943, the whole town turned outto welcome the blinded ex-prisonersof war to Church Stretton.

Just as in Regent’s Park, a smallgirl became a guide for them.Pauline Trebble was five years oldwhen St Dunstaners came to herfather’s pub, The Plough. ‘We usedto be packed out with them. We hada piano and they used to like tosing.’ Pauline Haycock, as she waswhen remembering those wartimedays, told me that St Dunstanerswere based in the Longmynd Hotel.From there a wire was put across thefield as a tactile guide down to thetown and their workshops andclassrooms for Braille andtypewriting, training in industrialwork and much more. ‘One of myjobs was showing them how to useit,’ said Pauline. ‘They would call in

for their lunchtime drink and when Iwas going back to school I wouldtake two or three and put them onthe wire. They were all special; StDunstan’s and the boys, as theywere known, brought life to thetown. I think Stretton would nothave been such a happy placeduring the war if they had not beenthere.’

‘Stretton was one of the happiestyears of my life,’ said Bob Lloyd – asurprising statement, perhaps, fromsomeone recalling his first year ofblindness. After his arrival inChurch Stretton, Bob Lloyd had ‘fiveoperations on my eyes butunfortunately they were notsuccessful. I went to see the

ophthalmic surgeon to decidewhether I was qualified for StDunstan’s. I’d made up my mind Iwasn’t going to stay. He took thewind out of my sails, saying, “Allright, you can go now but you can’tstand. If I were you I’d wait untiltomorrow morning,”’

When greeting him, Bob’s newcolleagues soon discovered he couldstill see a little. ‘“Can you take us tothe pub?” I said, “I can’t walk!”“Don’t worry, we’ll carry you”, theysaid.’ So they did, and after that Bobchanged his mind and became a StDunstaner. He completed histraining and became a successfulchartered physiotherapist.

During the war and afterwards,back at Ovingdean St Dunstanerslearned many different types of job,enabling them to work in industryon capstan lathes or testingcomponents, or as telephonists,shopkeepers, physiotherapists andother occupations, livingindependently in a sighted worldwith the support of St Dunstan’s.Their recollections, as well as thosebriefly recorded here, are the basis ofa full account of achievements oftwo generations of war-blinded menand women in my tribute to them, abook entitled In the Mind’s Eye (Penand Sword, 2013). �

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In 2012, St Dunstan’s changed its name toBlind Veterans UK because they now offertraining and assistance to all ex-service menand women who have become blind forreasons of age or disease, while there is still aninflux of those blinded in action in the conflictsin Iraq and Afghanistan.• Visit www.blindveterans.org.uk to findout more about the organization and how youcan support their work.

The support goes on

In the Mind’s Eye: TheBlinded Veterans of StDunstan’s is availableto Discover YourHistory readers at£15.99 (a saving of20% off RRP), withFREE UK postage andpacking.

• Call 01226 734222and quote code 261519 or visit www.pen-and-sword.co.uk and enter the code.

READER OFFER

POTENTIAL MASSEURS need their sense of touch. In Regent’s Park, a group pose as they feelskeletal bones studying anatomy.

ST DUNSTANERS WITH two of their nurses stroll out of the gates of Tiger Hall, their wartimehospital in Church Stretton, using the wire at the side of the path to help guide them.

Social HistorySt Dunstan’s guiding lights