O'Keeffe, Robert Jones

Born in Ireland and deafened at age 2 1/2 from a fall into a lake. Attended the Claremont Protestant school for the deaf in Dublin. After leaving school, worked in a factory making mail coaches for 15 years until the rise of railroads in Ireland made the factory redundant. Seeking work, he went to London in 1843 and took employment with a building company, remaining there 32 years until struck by a paralysis around 1875. Around 1860, married a deaf English widow, whose name has not been found. Buried in the Great Northern Cemetary at Colney Hatch.