one official in the capacity of work-seeker appointed by the Board of Trade, no State aid had been given to the deaf, but it was intended to apply for the inclusion of the deaf in the State provision which was set up for the training and employment of the blind.
As a result of the war a large number of wounded and disabled British soldiers and sailors were found to be suffering from deafness and from shell-shock, frequently accompanied by dumbness. In dealing with these men the experience of the schools for the deaf proved most valuable, and their organization and the services of their staffs were drawn on to teach lip-reading to the deafened men and to aid in the recovery of speech among those suffering from dumbness. The ordinary training in the methods of teaching articulation and speech-reading to deaf children was an excellent foundation on to which could be moulded the special requirements of the disabled men. Sir James Dundas Grant, at the head of a special aural board, was in charge of this department of the Ministry of Pensions, and had local expert and medical representatives in all parts of the country. Sir Frederick Milner and Mr. A. J. Wilson were instrumental in establishing hostels for deafened soldiers to provide social clubs for the men whilst undergoing special treatment and training in speech and lip-reading. The necessity for much of this special organization had largely ceased by 1921, but the lip-reading classes were still being carried on in various parts of the country under the direction of the ministry.
The convocations of Canterbury and York in 1918 adopted resolutions recommending that the spiritual welfare of the deaf and dumb should become a definite part of the work of each diocese and should be supported from diocesan funds, but up to 1921 this had not taken general effect. Five ordained clergymen were in 1921 at work among the deaf of London and district and three in other parts of Great Britain, whilst in the various populous centres of the British Isles “missions” to the deaf and dumb are carried on by lay-readers and other workers. (F. G. B.)
DEAKIN, ALFRED (1856–1919), Australian statesman, was born at Melbourne Aug. 3 1856, the son of a coach proprietor. He was educated at the university of Melbourne and was called to the Victorian bar in 1877; but before that date he had already worked as a journalist, and he continued to contribute frequently to the press, especially to the Melbourne Age. He entered the Victorian Legislature in 1878 and first took office as Minister of Public Works and Water Supply (1883–6). In 1885 he became Solicitor-General and in 1887 he was senior representative for his Colony at the first Imperial Conference held in London on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. He was a member of all the bodies formed to promote the Federation of Australia as well as of the delegation which proceeded to London with the Australian Commonwealth bill in 1900 and, as Attorney-General, he was included in Sir Edmund Barton’s first Federal “Cabinet of the Captains” (1901–3), succeeding him as Premier of Australia. During his legislative career in Victoria he was active in promoting social legislation and an ardent advocate of preference in favour of Great Britain. This fiscal policy he pursued during his three Federal premierships (1903–4, 1905–8, 1909–10), and he was also a strong supporter of Australia’s cooperation in Imperial defence, being responsible for the acceptance of the measure authorizing Australian naval construction in 1909 and for the invitation to Lord Kitchener to come to Australia to report on the question of defence. He also passed that year an Act enforcing military training upon all able-bodied citizens. He was the leading figure at the Imperial Conference in London of 1907. After 1910 he led the Opposition in the Australian Parliament until ill-health compelled his retirement in 1913. He always refused any titular distinction; but he was credited by many with being the most brilliant orator of the British Empire, and the enthusiasm which he evoked in London was great. He represented “Centre” thought in Australian politics and for a long time was a reconciling influence between the Conservatives and the Labour party. He died Oct. 7 1919.
DEANE, SIR HENRY BARGRAVE FINNELLEY (1846–1919), English judge, was born April 28 1846, the only son of the Rt. Hon. Sir James Parker Deane, K.C. He was educated at Winchester and Balliol College, Oxford, where in 1870 he won the international law essay prize. He was called to the bar in 1870, and was made a Q.C. in 1896. From 1885 to 1905 he was recorder of Margate, and in 1905 was raised to the bench and knighted. From 1892 onwards his work lay mainly in the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty division. In 1917 he retired from the bench, and he died in London April 21 1919.
DE BROQUEVILLE, CHARLES, Comte (1860–), Belgian statesman, was born at Tostel, Belgium, Dec. 4 1860 of a family which was French in origin. He was privately educated and
passed much time at his father’s estate. It was his marriage to
Mdlle. d’Huart, granddaughter of Jules Malou (see 17.496) the
Conservative leader, that paved the way for his entrance into
public life. At the age of 25 he became a member of the provincial council of Antwerp, subsequently being elected deputy
for Tournhout, and in Aug. 1910 was appointed Minister of
Railways, Posts and Telegraphs in the Schollaert Cabinet. On the
fall of this Ministry (July 1912) Baron de Broqueville undertook
the formation of a new Cabinet, and in Nov. 1912 also became
Minister of War, in this position successfully pressing through
the bill for strengthening the Belgian army. When in Aug. 1914
the Belgians determined to resist the passage of the Germans
through their country, the Belgian premier well expressed the
feelings of the nation in his declaration “Nous serons peut-être vaincus, mais soumis, jamais!” On the retreat of the Belgian
army towards the Yser, De Broqueville established himself
at_ Dunkirk and there assisted the military authorities to recreate the units of the Belgian army which had been broken in
the retreat. He established the Belgian base at Calais, and
after the battle of the Yser worked indefatigably for the reconstitution of the army. In Aug. 1917 Gen. de Ceuninck became Minister of War and De Broqueville succeeded Baron
Beyens as Foreign Minister. One of his more important actions
was to establish a war Cabinet of six members on the model of
those in France and England. In Jan. 1918, however, he was
succeeded as Foreign Minister by M. Paul Hymans, already a
member of the war Cabinet. It was found that in Sept. 1917
De Broqueville had transmitted to M. Briand peace proposals
secretly made by the Germans through Von der Lancken, head
of the political department in Brussels, without informing his
colleagues in the Cabinet, and this incident seriously diminished
his power. In Jan. 1918 he took over the charge of the new department of national reconstruction, but in June of the same
year his resignation of the premiership was accepted by the King.
At the end of the war he became Minister of the Interior in the
Delacroix Cabinet, and retained this office until Nov. 1919, when
he retired, having the same year been created a count.
DEBS, EUGENE VICTOR (1855–), American labour
leader and socialist, was born at Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 5 1855,
of Alsatian parents. On leaving the public schools he became in
1871 a locomotive fireman, and four years later took a position
in a wholesale grocery. In 1879 he was elected city clerk of
Terre Haute on the Democratic ticket, and in 1881 was reelected.
During 1885 he was a member of the Indiana Legislature. Meanwhile, in 1880 he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and was chosen editor of the Locomotive Firemen’s Magazine. When the American Railway Union was organized in 1893 he was elected president, serving four years. Under his leadership a strike on the Great Northern railway was won in 1894. The same year he led the strike which, beginning in the Pullman car plants, soon involved the railways leading into Chicago (see 6.124). Debs was arrested on the charge of conspiracy to kill, was acquitted, was later convicted of contempt of court for violating an injunction, and was sent to gaol for six months (May–Nov. 1895). At this time his study of socialism began, and in 1897 he allied himself with the movement, for a year acting as chairman of the National Council of the Social Democracy of America. After this was reorganized into the Social Democrat party in 1898 he was an influential member. In 1900 he was Socialist candidate for president of the United States, receiving 96,116 votes; was again candidate in 1904, 1908 and 1912, but declined the nomination in 1916. In 1907 he was appointed on the editorial staff of the Appeal to Reason, and his contributions attracted wide attention. In 1914 he became editor-in-chief of the National Rip-Saw, a socialistic paper published at St. Louis. After America’s entrance into the World War he upheld pacifism, and in Sept. 1918, after a speech at Canton, O., he was charged with violation of the Espionage Act, was convicted, and sentenced to serve 10
