The Lost World of Leslie Edwards
Who was Leslie Edwards?
Leslie was born in Leytonstone in 1885 and became deaf through meningitis at the age of 7. He attended a private school for deaf children. He was a keen artist, and after spending three years at art school he joined the Mission Church of All Saints for the Deaf at West Ham, obtaining a Lay-Reader's licence at Kings College, London.
From 1912 to 1915 he worked as an art teacher at the East Anglican School for the Deaf in Gorleston, where he met his wife, Marion. He eventually realised that the Diploma of Teachers of the Deaf could not be gained by a deaf person, so he decided to become a missioner to the deaf in the Diocese of Peterborough, which covered a very large area including Leicester, Northampton and Loughborough.
He was appointed Secretary/ Treasurer of the BDDA (British Deaf and Dumb Association), a post that he held from 1935 until his sudden death aged 65 in 1951.
