START // Trisomy 21 // Who was John Langdon Down? //
John Langdon-Down, drawing by Leonie Schilling

Who was John Langdon Down?

Who was John Langdon Down?
When and where did he live?
What kind of a person was he?
And what does he have to do with Down syndrome?

Many people know only a little about John Langdon Down.
Most people only know: He was the first to write about Down syndrome.
And he wrote about "Mongolism".
In earlier times that was what Down syndrome was called.
That word is no longer used today.
And there are many misunderstandings about it.
Even today.

Few people know about John Langdon Down's life and his work.
That is the reason for this article.
So that more people can read something about him.
About his life.
And about his work.
About his ideas.

John Langdon Down's birth name was John Langdon Haydon Down.
John, Langdon, and Haydon were his first names.
Later he used the name Langdon as a part of his surname: John Langdon Down.

Where did John Langdon Down come from?
John Langdon Down was born on the 18th of November 1828.
In Torpoint.
This is a town in Cornwall.
In a southern part of the UK.

John Langdon Down's parents were Joseph Almond Down, and Hannah Haydon.
They had 7 children.
John Langdon Down was the 7th and the last child of his parents.

What did John Langdon Down learn?
John Langdon Down went to school for only a short time.
Only a few years.

John Langdon Down's father had his own shop.
He was a merchant for "colonial wares".
That means, in his store you could buy groceries.
And tobacco.
But the store was also a pharmacy.
Even though John Langdon Down's father had no training as a pharmacist.

For 5 years, John Langdon Down worked in his father's shop.
From 1842 to 1847.
In 1849, John Langdon Down began his education.
In the pharmacy of his father.
At the time he was 21 years old.
He learned what a pharmacist must know.
After that, he took an exam.
At the Chamber of Pharmacists, the following was written:
He passed the exam.
He then studied for 1 year.
At the "Pharmaceutical Society" in London.
"Pharmaceutical" is a specialist word that refers to the science of making medicines.

John Langdon Down also taught other people something.
He worked as a lecturer.
A lecturer is a teacher for adults.
Not just at school.
For example, also at university.
He was a lecturer in chemistry.

Then John Langdon Down thought to himself:
He wants to study medicine.
He wants to become a doctor.
He started studying at the university in London.
That was in 1853.

In earlier times, one had to undertake numerous examinations to become a doctor.
In different subject areas.
That is what John Langdon Down did.
He completed and graduated in 1859.
This qualification is called a "Doctor of Medicine".

Then John Langdon Down worked as a doctor.
At the "London Hospital".
In the hospital, John Langdon Down earned only a little money.
He also continued to work as a lecturer.
At the "London Hospital Medical College".
It was a school for doctors.

Where did John Langdon Down work?
Next John Langdon Down searched for a permanent job.
Why?
He had fallen in love.
With Mary Crellin.
He wanted to marry her.
To do this he had to earn money.
And he had to have a place to live.
So that he and Mary could start a family.

That's why John Langdon Down started working in the Earlswood Asylum.
In the Asylum complex he was given an apartment for his family and himself.
Earlswood is a city near London.
It is north of London.
John Langdon Down lived and worked there for 10 years.
From 1858 to 1868.
When he began work in Earlswood, he was 30 years old.

Earlswood Asylum was a hospital.
But people did not only have short stays in this hospital.
They also lived there.

In Earlswood, lived people with various disabilities.
John Langdon Down ran that house.
Before this, he had never worked with people with disabilities.

In the Earlswood Asylum, lived mostly people from poor families.
Approximately 300 people.
A good life was wanted for these people.
That's why John Langdon Down was hired.
He should change the living, and the working there.
And as doctor, he was responsible for the residents.
Those were his tasks.
No one explained to John Langdon Down how his new work was to function.
He had no instructions for it.
He could not bring his questions and problems to anyone in Earlswood.
That's why he looked for advisors.
For example, a colleague in medicine.
And his wife always supported John Langdon Down.
In their private life and with his work.

John Langdon Down's wife
John Langdon Down married in 1860.
He was 32 years old.
Before the wedding, his wife's name was Mary Crellin.
After the wedding her name became Mary Down.
After the wedding she lived with her husband together in Earlswood.

There Mary Down helped her husband.
She had various tasks.
She organized things.
She had a lot of contact with the residents.
For example, she has practiced and trained things with them.

Mary and John Langdon Down started a family together.
They had 4 children.
3 of the children were born in Earlswood.

How did John Langdon Down work in Earlswood?
Before his time in Earlswood, John Langdon Down had never worked with people with disabilities.
But he liked the work with them.
He was very interested in these people.
In their life.
In their health.
And in their importance for science.

John Langdon Down wanted the residents at Earlswood to have a good life.
They should have good doctors.
They should learn new things.
Things that would carry their lives forward.
He changed life in the home very much.
He found: that what people with disabilities need and want must be placed in the centre of considerations.
He thought a lot about this.
And he has written a lot about it.
Many reports from John Langdon Down's work can be read today.

Later in his life, he gave lectures about this.
In front of students.

John Langdon Down believed that people with disabilities can also lead an independent life.
In this he wanted to support them.
He helped them, to practice things.
For example: to eat on their own with cutlery.
So the residents no longer had to be fed.
Prior to John Langdon Down, few people thought about the lives of people with disabilities.
And about their human dignity.

John Langdon Down also changed other things in Earlswood.
During his time there, the house took care of providing food.
Fruit, vegetables and grains were cultivated and harvested.
And animals lived in Earlswood.
There was a farm in Earlswood.
A laundry and a bakery.
There were also workshops.
For example, a carpentry workshop.

John Langdon Down also changed what the people in Earlswood learnt and practiced.
For this John Langdon Down made plans.
For each individual resident.
The people of Earlswood, for example, learnt how they could move their fingers.
Or their lips and tongue.
John Langdon Down also paid attention to what the people in Earlswood ate.
The residents also learnt things about religion.
They prayed together mornings and evenings.
And on Sundays everyone went to church service.
This was an important part of the living together in Earlswood.

In 1867, John Langdon Down gave his first lecture on his new approach to work.
At a congress.
Congress is another word for gathering, or a work-meeting.
The lecture was called "On the education and training of the feeble in mind".
The lecture was also later printed.

John Langdon Down writes for the first time about people with Down syndrome
During his time at Earlswood, John Langdon Down noticed something.
He noted that some of the residents had similarities.
This was the case for about 10 out of 100 people.
John Langdon Down had begun to write about these similarities and specialities.
He called this group of people "the Mongolian type of idiot".
At that time, it was not meant to be offensive.
At that time this was how people with disabilities were spoken about.
That was in 1866.

John Langdon Down was the first person to write about this group of people.
Later they were named after him: people with Down syndrome.
Hia while life John Langdon Down was interested in these people.
As a doctor.
As a scientist.
And as a person.

Praise and appreciation for the work of John Langdon Down
More and more people became interested in the work of John Langdon Down.
They liked how he was working with people with disabilities.
They wanted to know more about it.
That is why many of John Langdon Down's colleagues came to Earlswood to visit.

Earlswood became the most well-known home for people with disabilities in Great Britain.
More and more people wanted to live in the home.
There were long waiting lists.
And more houses had to be built.

John Langdon Down leaves Earlswood
Many people were excited about John Langdon Down's work.
He got a lot of praise and recognition.
Nevertheless, he had more and more problems with the home's management.
John Langdon Down and the home's management were not of the same opinion.

John Langdon Down wanted even more changes at Earlswood.
He had new ideas.
The home's management did not want this change.
John Langdon Down and the home's management argued: who may decide?

The dispute was also about money.
Earlswood was a home for poor people.
But through the work of John Langdon Down the home became very well known.
Even rich families now wanted to give their children to the home.
They wanted to pay for it.
John Langdon Down thought this was good.
The home management did not.
They were against it.
On this point too, they were not in agreement.

The home management was also not satisfied regarding another matter:
Sometimes John Langdon Down was not in Earlswood.
He gave lectures.
About his work.
And he worked in London as a doctor.
The home management found this was no good.
They thought that John Langdon Down should be in Earlswood the whole time.

John Langdon Down no longer wanted to argue with the home's management.
That is why he left his job at Earlswood.

How did people with disabilities live in earlier times, in Great Britain?
Previously, not all people with disabilities were well taken care of in the UK.
Especially not in the country.
In small towns and villages.
This was also the case in other countries.

In many families there were people with disabilities.
In poor and rich families.
Poor people with disabilities often lived in homes.
For example, in Earlswood.
Such homes did not exist for people from rich families.
In this case, people with disabilities were often hidden.
They had no contact with other family members.
They were cared for by servants.
They could learn nothing and they could not work.
Their life was often boring and lonely.

The Normansfield Training Institute
After his resignation, John Langdon Down left Earlswood.
He founded his own home.
That was in 1868.
John Langdon Down called the home the "Normansfield Trainings Institute".  It was a residential home for people with disabilities.
They lived and worked at Normansfield.

Normanfield is close to London.
West of London.

In 1868, there were no homes for people with disabilities from rich families.
John Langdon Down wanted to change that.
He knew that many people with disabilities did not have a good life living with their family.
That's why he wanted them to live in a home.
So they could learn something.
So they could work.
So could could receive encouragement.
This encouragement they should receive in his new home: In Normansfield.

Now also rich families could give their children with disabilities to a home.
For this they paid.
So the child is well taken care of.
Then they sometimes said to others: The child died.
They were ashamed.

All residents of Normansfield should learn something.
There were several teachers there.
At that time not all children in the UK had to go to school.
There was no compulsory education.
This came 100 years later for people with disabilities.
In the year 1970.
So you can say: John Langdon Down was ahead of his time.

Now in his own home for people with disabilities, John Langdon Down could continue working.
He could try new ideas.
He did not have to ask anyone for permission.
He did not have to argue with anyone about his work.

At that time, there was no other home that was like Normansfield.
Nowhere else did people with disabilities receive such good support.
Nowhere else could they learn so much.
Nowhere else could they live with so much dignity.
The support offered at Normansfield was very modern.
Many things are still done the same today.

People with disabilities were able to learn a lot at Normansfield:

  • Sports, for example roller-skating
  • Healthy eating
  • Work in the workshop
  • Mathematics
  • Tongue exercises
  • Music
  • Dance
  • Theatre

John Langdon Down built a theatre for the residents of Normansfield.
They could see theatre plays there.
And they could themselves play a role in a theatre presentation.

This theatre still exists today.
It still looks the same as it did then.
And there are still theatre productions presented in it.

Where else did John Langdon Down work?
John Langdon Down no longer had a fixed salary.
After his resignation he wasn't being paid anymore.
Normansfield was his own home.
He had to earn his own money with it.
For himself and his family.
But also to pay all the people who worked at Normansfield.

To earn more money, John Langdon Down had a private practice in London.
When he was there, his wife Mary took care of all business at Normansfield.
And John Langdon Down wanted to continue to teach other people something.
He wanted to give lectures for students.
At different places.
He wanted the students to graduate well.
He wanted to pass on to them what he had learned in his work.
He wanted to tell them: As a doctor you have to take care of the whole person.
Not just the body.
But also the soul.

He said patients are afraid when they come to a hospital.
They do not know anyone.
They do not know what will happen to them.
John Langdon Down found: The people who care for them must be friendly.

Later in his life John Langdon Down worked as a Justice of the Peace.
His task was to find a solution if 2 people had quarrelled.
He had to settle the dispute.

In 1890 John Langdon Down got a severe flu.
It took him a long time to recover.

After that, he stopped working as a doctor.
But he remained as an advisor in Normansfield.

Residents with Down syndrome in Normansfield
In the beginning, 19 residents lived in Normansfield.
Later it became more.
Up to 150 people lived there.

John Langdon Down wrote down a lot about the residents.
For example:

  • How old was the person when they came to Normansfield?
  • Why did the person come to Normansfield?
  • What illnesses did the person have in their lives?
  • What can the person do well, and what can they not do so well?
  • What progress does the person make in their learning?

In Normansfield, John Langdon Down again noticed people with Down syndrome.
22 such people lived there.
At that time John Langdon Down grouped such people using the term "the Mongolian type of idiot".

The term will be explained in more detail later.
It was not a word of abuse.
Back then, it was normal to talk in this way about people with disabilities.

These people John Langdon Down found particularly interesting.
He wanted to find out more about them.
He wanted to know:

  • What peculiarities do they have?
  • How do they behave?
  • Wherein are they alike?
  • Wherein are they different?
  • How can they learn something?
  • Why do they have this disability?

From the things that John Langdon Down wrote down about his patients, one can notice:
The residents of Normansfield were important to him.
He had a close relationship with them.
He knew them well.
And he felt close to them.

At that time, most people died earlier than today.
People did not get so old.
There were more diseases.
The medicine could not yet help so many people.

In Normansfield, by comparison, only a few people died.
They became quite old.
Older than in other homes.
This shows that in Normansfield they received good care.
And a good diet.
They were well taken care of.

6 people with Down syndrome lived very long in Normansfield.
For more than 35 years.
One man was 59 years old.
At that time, this was very old for a person with Down syndrome.

Mary A. was 19 years old when she came to Normansfield.
She also died in Normansfield.
She was 58 years old.

John Langdon Down wrote about Mary A.:

"She's very thick-headed.
[Thick-headed is another word for stubborn.]
She does not want to walk on the grounds.

She can write letters.
And she can play songs on the piano by heart.
She is very loving and free from evil thoughts.
[This means she has no evil thoughts].

She is clever and pleasant."

John Langdon Down took many photos of his residents.
At that time photography was newly invented.
It was still something very new.

In 1862, John Langdon Down bought his first camera.
Photography at that time was still very complicated.
And it took a long time.
The photos that John Langdon Down took are very nice.
One can see: they have a lot of dignity.
One can imagine: Who was the person in the photo?

Many photos from homes and hospitals look very bad.
They do not show the people.
They show the disease or the disability.
This is not the case with the photos of John Langdon Down.

Langdon Down as a scientist - misunderstandings about his work
During his life John Langdon Down wrote 28 books and essays.
For a scientist that is not very many.
He wrote his last book in 1887.
Many people find this a pity.
Because you can not read today how he thought after 1887.

There are still many misunderstandings about one book by John Langdon Down.
Because of the words that John Langdon Down used for people with disabilities.
At that time, people with intellectual disabilities were called idiots.
And people with psychological disabilities were called mad.
John Langdon Down also did the same.
In one of his books.

If you hear these words today, you might think:
John Langdon Down thought these people were worth nothing.
He had no respect for them.
But that's not true.
He tried with these words, to differentiate between different types of disability.

John Langdon Down wrote a list.
In this list he wrote:

  • What can people with disabilities do?
  • What can they learn?

He wanted more people to know about it.
And he wanted people with disabilities to get more support.
He wanted more confidence in their abilities.

He noticed:
Different people with disabilities can learn different things.
That is why he wrote about 4 different groups.
He believed: If one knows which group people belong to, then people get the right support.

One of these groups was "the great Mongolian family".
John Langdon Down named them this.
This group was quite large.
About 10 out of 100 residents belonged to this group.

John Langdon Down knew: people with Down syndrome can learn something.
He found: They have humour.
And he found: they can, for example, play well in theatrical roles.
They can work in a workshop.
They need support with those things.

He found out: Almost all people with Down syndrome can speak.
But: Many people with Down syndrome speak not very clearly.
But they can practice it.
They need to train their tongue.
Then they can be better understood.

He also found out:
Some things are more difficult for people with Down syndrome.
For example:

  • Keeping their physical balance
  • Speaking clearly and distinctly
  • Doing fine things with the hands
  • Calculating with large numbers

But even with these things they can practice and improve.

John Langdon Down wrote about "the great Mongolian family".
But he never used the word Mongolism.
That was first written by other people after him.

Today these words are no longer used.
Many people with disabilities find: They are offensive.
But John Langdon Down had not meant it as an offense.
He used it as a part of scientific language.

The Langdon Down family
In the middle of the 1850s, John Langdon Down visited his sister Sarah.
There he met Mary Crellin.
He fell in love with her.
Later he married her.

Mary Crellin was John Langdon Down's sister-in-law.
That means, she was the sister of Sarah's husband Philip.

Mary had many similarities with John Langdon Down:
Both came from a businessman's family.
And for both, religion was an important topic in life.
Mary Crellin was clever and warm-hearted.
She could play the piano well.

Mary Crellin and John Langdon Down knew quickly: They wanted to get married.
But first they did not have enough money for it.
John Langdon Down did not earn enough money for a family.
He did not have enough money for a larger apartment.
That's why John and Mary could only later get married.
It was only when John Langdon Down started working in Earlswood.

The wedding was on October 10, 1860.
At the wedding, John Langdon Down and Mary Crellin were both 32 years old.

After the wedding, John Langdon Down's wife was named Mary Down.
Mary and John Langdon Down had 4 children together.

The children of Mary and John Langdon Down
The first child was a boy.
His name was Everleigh Langdon Down.
He was born on December 18, 1861 in Earlswood.
Everleigh Langdon Down began work as a soldier.
At 22 he had an accident.
He seriously injured himself with a tool. With a chisel.
His injuries were so bad that Everleigh Langdon Down died as a result.

Lillian Langdon Down was the 2nd child of Mary and John Langdon Down.
She was their only daughter.
She was also born in Earlswood.
She lived only 2 years.
She was seriously ill for two weeks.
Most probably she had a virus in her brain.
From this she died.
On her grave stone is written:

"In ever-loving memory of the dear, little Lilian, who left this life on June 1, 1865, at the age of two years.
Your happy soul now sees Jesus."

The third child of Mary and John Langdon Down was again a boy.
His name was Reginald Langdon Down.
He too was born in Earlswood.
On August 4, 1866.

Percival Langdon Langdon Down was the youngest child.
He was born on 6th May, 1868.
At that time the family was living in Normansfield.

Both sons got a good education.
They attended good schools and universities.
They both studied medicine like their father.

Later it was the two younger sons who continued the work of John Langdon Down.
The work which was taking place in Normansfield.
And the work at the practice in London.

Reginald and Percival Langdon Down both married and both started a family.

In the winter of 1890, John Langdon Down, the father of the family, had a severe flu.
He recovered very slowly.
John Langdon Down had to take tablets.
He had heart problems.
He no longer worked as a doctor in Normansfield and London.
But he still worked as an advisor.

On October 7, 1896, John Langdon Down had a breakdown and died.
This happened very suddenly.
John Langdon Down's family was very sad about it.
Especially his wife Mary.

John Langdon Down did not get to meet his grandchildren.
They were born after his death.

After John's death Mary Down continued to work at Normansfield.
Her son's did not yet have much experience as doctors.
They needed the support of their mother.

In the year 1900 there was a severe flu epidemic.
Very many people died as a result.
Also ten residents of Normansfield.
Also Mary Down died because of it.

After their deaths Mary and John Langdon Down were both cremated.
Their urns are in Normansfield till this day.
In the theatre.
Plaques can be found there that remember their lives.

The Grandchildren of John Langdon Down
Reginald Langdon Down was married twice.
His first wife died at 22 years.
Reginald Langdon Down was a widower.
But he married again.

Reginald Langdon Down had three children, two daughters and a son.
The son of Reginald Langdon Down was named John Langdon Down after his grandfather.
This son had Down syndrome.

The grandson of John Langdon Down grew up in Normansfield.
In the house founded by his Grandfather.
He learnt a lot there.
He had many talents.
For example, he could play billiards well.
And he loved music.

John Langdon Down stayed his whole life at Normansfield.
Until his death.
He lived to be 65 years old.

Percival Langdon Down and his wife had three children.
Their daughter Molly studied medicine and also became a doctor.
She worked until 1947 in Normansfield.

Norman was the son of Percival Langdon Down and his wife.
He also studied medicine.
Norman Langdon Down led Normansfield until 1970.
He was the last family member that worked there.

In 1997 Normansfield was closed.
The residents moved beforehand into other, smaller homes.
But the Normansfield theatre is still there.

Today Normansfield is a museum.
And the Down’s Syndrome Association works there.
That is a self help group for people with Down syndrome, and their families.

Dr Katja Weiske wrote this text in technical language.
Anne Leichtfuss translated it into clear language.
It was then translated from German into English by MNOP.

MerkenMerken

  • About us
  • My Everyday
  • FAQ
  • Global
  • Trisomy 21
  • Sharing Awareness
  • Research
  • Suche