User:Ikeshammah/John Langdon Down

He and his wife Mary transformed Earlswood from a place of horror where patients were subject to corporal punishment and kept in dirty conditions and unschooled, to a happy place where all punishment was forbidden and replaced with kindness and rewards, the patients' dignity was valued and they were taught horse riding, gardening, crafts and elocution.

In 1866, he wrote a paper entitled "Observations on an Ethnic Classification of Idiots" in which he put forward the theory that it was possible to classify different types of conditions by ethnic characteristics. He listed several types including the Malay, Caucasian and Ethiopian types. In the main the paper is about what is known as Down syndrome, named after him, but which he classified as the Mongolian type of idiot. As a result, Down syndrome was also known as "Mongolism" and people with Down syndrome referred to as "Mongoloids". Down's paper also argued that if mere disease is able to break down racial barriers to the point of causing the facial features of the offspring of whites to resemble those of another race, then racial differences must be the result of variation, affirming therefore the unity of the human species. Down used this reasoning to argue against a tendency he perceived in his day to regard different races as separate species.

John’s wife Mary played a big part in the lives of those that lived in Earlswood. So much so that John petitioned the lords of earlswood to put her on the payroll. This was thought to put a strain on John's relationship with the lords. John eventually retired from earlswood in 1868 after the lords refused to give him the money he needed to display the artwork of some of his patients at an exhibition.

After resigning from Earlswood, Down set up his own private home for the those with developmental and intellectual disabilities at Normansfield, between Hampton Wick and Teddington. The homes first occupants were 18 mentally disabled children of upper class members of the community such as lords and physicians. In the home John and his wife did their best to educate the children and exposed them to a wide variety of mentally stimulating activities. Normansfield was a success and eventually had to be expanded to house the growing number of its inhabitants. By 1876 the number of inhabitants in Normansfield had grown to 160.

In 1887, John wrote a book entitled "Mental Affections of Childhood and Youth". It was published at the request of the Medical Society of London and was a transcript of  three lectures along with fifteen papers John published on mental defects. The book details John's ideas and findings about several mental abnormalities such as down syndrome and microcephaly. It also contains John's view on the leading thoughts and available literature on the subject. In the lectures and some of the papers, John also weighed in on what he believed were the potential causes of various mental disorders. A reoccurring theme was the influence of parental physical and mental health on their child's chances of being born with a mental disorder. He also explored how the obstetric practices of the time could have influenced postnatal health.

John died in the fall of 1896 at the age of 67. His body was cremated and kept in Normansfield. After his wife died, she was also cremated and their ashes were scattered together.

John's sons, Reginald and Percival, both qualified in medicine at the London Hospital, joined their father, and became responsible for the hospital after his death. His grandson, Reginald's son, was born with Down Syndrome.

The building at Normansfield is grade II* listed and is now known as the Langdon Down Centre. It accommodates the headquarters of the Down's Syndrome Association.

The newest part of his hometown, Torpoint, had a street named in his honour: Langdon Down Way.