Francis Maginn

Francis Maginn
Francis Maginn
Born	1861 Mallow, County Cork, Ireland
Died	1918 Belfast, Ireland
Resting place	Belfast City Cemetery
Nationality	Irish / British
Education	Royal London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb then Gallaudet University
Known for	Co-founder of the British Deaf Association / Superintendent of Ulster Institute for the Deaf

Francis Maginn (1861–1918) was a Church of Ireland missionary who worked to improve living standards for the deaf community by promoting sign language and was one of the co-founders of the British Deaf Association.

Maginn was born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland in 1861. His father was a Church of Ireland vicar, and his mother was well-connected to wealthy families in Ireland. His uncle William Maginn was a journalist who amongst other achievements co-founded and was a notable supporter of Fraser's Magazine. At the age of 5, he was about to be sent to Christ's Hospital (a famous boarding school in England), however he became deaf that year due to scarlet fever and his parents sent him to the Royal London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, which was on Old Kent Road at that time.

Maginn excelled at school and was offered a junior teachership at 17 in the Royal London Asylum's Margate Branch. He kept this position for five years, returned to Ireland for a year, and then went to the National Deaf-Mute College (later known as Gallaudet University) in Washington, DC. The move from Ireland to America had a profound effect on Maginn, who felt he now had the ability to achieve a higher level of attainment. He spent three years at Gallaudet and did not graduate because he had to leave to be at his father's bedside, but he left highly regarded and with letters of support (he received an honorary degree from Gallaudet in later life). Leaving Gallaudet, Maginn felt that the British approach to deafness was one of injustice, and that his life's work would be to enhance the quality of life for deaf in the United Kingdom.

Maginn returned to Ireland in 1882, he wanted to identify a potential springboard to establish a national association and he joined the Deaf and Dumb Correspondence Association, which was led by some influential deaf people of that time. The first attempt to establish an association, the Deaf-Mute Association was formed on 1 February 1888 to 'further the cause of the deaf and dumb' but it was short-lived. There were 239 members were recruited into its membership but, due to insufficient numbers, the association closed in 1889.

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