History
St Dunstan's was founded by Arthur Pearson, who had himself lost his sight due to glaucoma. Because of the increasing numbers of British soldiers returning from the front lines during the First World War suffering from blindness, Pearson established a hostel for these soldiers. His intention was that, with training and assistance, the former soldiers could go on to lead productive lives and would not have to depend on charity. On his death in 1922 the Chairmanship fell to Ian Fraser, who was blinded in the war, and held the post for 52 years. The most notable recent resident was World War I veteran Henry Allingham, born 1896, who was briefly the oldest man in the world until his death in 2009.
During the Second World War, from 1940 to 1946, St Dunstan's was based in the town of Church Stretton, Shropshire.
In 2012 St Dunstan's was renamed and rebranded as Blind Veterans UK.
Read more about this topic: Blind Veterans UK
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“If man is reduced to being nothing but a character in history, he has no other choice but to subside into the sound and fury of a completely irrational history or to endow history with the form of human reason.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Boys forget what their country means by just reading “the land of the free” in history books. Then they get to be men, they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)