Britain’s first deaf photographer - Walton R. Burrell (1863-1944)
As a deaf photographer, I do ongoing research into the history of deaf photography so that my own practice is rooted in a deeper understanding of deaf history and culture.
As far as my current research goes, Walton R. Burrell (1863-1944) appears to be Britain’s first working deaf photographer.
Born in rural Suffolk, Walton grew up in a family that could afford to send him – and his three deaf siblings – to a small private deaf school in north London where he learnt to read and write (but not speak). At a time when school attendance was still not compulsory and most deaf children were illiterate, this gave Walton a head start in life.
Even so, ‘deaf and dumb’ people (as they were referred to in the Victorian era) generally occupied a low status in British life, so Walton had to defy widespread low expectations to make his own niche as a photographer.
At 18, Walton was taught by a local photographer and probably made images using an early Kodak wooden box camera (the first such device to be mass-manufactured and so available to small businesses and affluent families).
Walton was prolific. Over five decades he made more than 20,000 photographs – family portraits, local street scenes, nature. His candid photos of soldiers at the local Army barracks and hospital during World War One makes him one of the most important local Suffolk photographers of his time
Walton also became involved with the emergent deaf community. He was a founder member of the British Deaf and Dumb Association – which sought to campaign for better education, employment and rights.
After his death, Walton’s legacy was lost to obscurity until 2012 when several of his photo albums were handed over to Suffolk Archives who catalogued his work and bought it to wider public attention.
Walton’s best work is a remarkable snapshot of his time, capturing the rhythms of daily life using techniques that today we would recognise as ‘photojournalism’.
Photos reproduced courtesy of Suffolk Archives Deaf Perspectives project.