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William van Praagh

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William van Praagh
BornWolf Saloman van Praagh
(1845-06-11)11 June 1845
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Died28 June 1907(1907-06-28) (aged 62)
London, United Kingdom
Burial placeWillesden Jewish Cemetery
Spouse Emily van Praagh ​(m. 1872)​

William van Praagh (11 June 1845 – 28 June 1907) was a British educator. He pioneered the Oralist method for the education of the deaf in England.

Biography

Wolf Saloman van Praagh was born into a Jewish family in Rotterdam in 1845.

From 1859, he studied under David Hirsch, director of the Rotterdam School for the Deaf and Dumb, who had introduced the oral system of teaching the deaf from Germany into Holland. In 1866, van Praagh was invited to manage the newly estalished Jews' Deaf and Dumb Home in London. He took the name William upon settling in England.

Van Praagh's "Pure Oral System" attracted the attention of Anne Thackeray and other members of the press. In 1871 he published the pamphlet Plan for the Establishment of Day-Schools for the Deaf and Dumb, which became a catalyst for the development of day schools for deaf students in England. He was critical of residential schools for the deaf, emphasizing the importance of allowing deaf students to interact with non-deaf individuals outside of school hours.

In 1870, van Praagh became director of the Association for the Oral Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, a nonsectarian institution founded by Juliana Baroness Mayer de Rothschild. Under his leadership, the association established the Normal School and Training College for Teachers in 1872. He remained the institution's director until his death, training a generation of educators in the Oralist system. Van Praagh also founded the National Union of Teachers upon the Pure Oral Method shortly after the passing of the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act in 1893.

Van Praagh died on 28 June 1907 following a sudden attack of angina pectoris after his annual public demonstration of the lip-reading system in Fitzroy Square. His last words were reportedly, "Gentlemen, I have finished."

Personal life

William van Praagh married Emily van Praagh, daughter of Morris van Praagh, in February 1872. They together had four sons and two daughters. His granddaughter was the ballet dancer Peggy van Praagh.

Van Praagh was a member of the Committee of the Netherlands Benevolent Society, and a Past Master of the Athenaeum Lodge no. 1491. He was affiliated with the Bayswater Synagogue in Westminster.

Honours

In recognition of his contributions to the education of the deaf, van Praagh was named an Officier d'Académie by the French Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts in 1884.

Selected publications

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jacobs, Joseph; Harris, Isidore (1906). "van Praagh, William". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 401.

  1. ^ Leiman, Shnayer Z. (2007). "van Praagh, William". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 20 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. p. 474. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4. Gale CX2587520317.
  2. ^ Kutner, S. (October 1907). Booth, Frank W. (ed.). "William van Praagh". The Association Review. 9 (4). Washington, D.C.: The American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf: 464–466.
  3. ^ Berger, Doreen (1999). The Jewish Victorian: Genealogical Information from the Jewish Newspapers, 1871–1880. Witney, Oxfordshire: Robert Boyd Publications. ISBN 1-899536-38-8.
  4. ^ Stiles, H. Dominic W. (18 November 2011). "Van Praagh & The Rise of Oralism". UCL Ear Institute & Action on Hearing Loss Libraries. University College London. Archived from the original on 19 June 2016.
  5. Rietveld-van Wingerden, Marjoke; Westerman, Wim (2009). ""Hear Israel": The Involvement of Jews in Education of the Deaf (1850–1880)" (PDF). Jewish History. 23 (1): 47–49. doi:10.1007/s10835-008-9070-y.
  6. ^ "Obituary: Mr. William Van Praagh". The Jewish Chronicle. No. 1996. 5 July 1907. p. 6.
  7. Markides, Andreas (1983). The Speech of Hearing-Impaired Children. Manchester University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7190-0915-0.
  8. Thackeray, Anne (1868). "Out of the Silence". The Cornhill Magazine. 17. London: Smith, Elder & Co.: 573–577.
  9. ^  Jacobs, Joseph; Harris, Isidore (1906). "van Praagh, William". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 401.
  10. Pritchard, D. G. (2013) . Education and the Handicapped, 1760–1960. International Library of Sociology. Taylor & Francis. pp. 84–88. ISBN 978-1-136-27028-4.
  11. "Necrology". American Annals of the Deaf. 52 (5): 490. November 1907. JSTOR 44464137.
  12. "The Late Mr. William Van Praagh". The Jewish Chronicle. No. 1997. 12 July 1907. p. 11.
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