Littlecote House holds many secrets, and an amazing discovery has provided a resolution to a debate that has been raging for 350 years.

A small leather-bound 350 year old notebook has been found in the butler’s cupboard in the magnificent old Tudor House. The book, inscribed as belonging to Alexander Popham and dated November 8^th, 1662, is the first documented evidence that John Wallis, a renowned 17^th Century mathematician, Cromwellian code-breaker, and linguistics expert, was the very first person in the world to teach a deaf person how to speak.

A grandson of the notorious Judge Popham (who sentenced both Mary Queen of Scots and Guy Fawkes to death), Alexander was born completely deaf and mute. Alexander was the nephew of Judge Popham’s heir, also named Alexander, who had inherited Littlecote House.

As the only male heir to Alexander’s brother Edward and his wife Ann, Alexander’s importance in the family hierarchy was assured. In an initial attempt to help her son, Ann hired the renowned academic William Holder to teach Alexander how to speak, but the results of this training were short-lived. Ann subsequently employed Holder’s rival John Wallis for the then huge sum of £100 per annum – £40 more than Holder had received.

The small leather bound notebook, which has been authenticated by Oxford research academic and John Wallis expert Philip Beeley, is written in Wallis’ own hand and proves to be an amazing insight into the teaching of his young charge. As a consequence of this training, Alexander Popham became the first deaf mute to speak and this small book irrefutably proves that John Wallis’ method can claim victory over Holder.  As the first documented evidence of speech instruction for deaf people, it is also a remarkable historical and scientific document which may prove to have worldwide significance.

Thanks to Wallis’ training, Alexander was to overcome the constraints of his disability and engage with the world around him – marrying a young woman called Brilliana, with whom he had a family of four healthy children.

This extraordinary discovery has also greatly excited Alexander Popham’s descendents, who were invited to visit Littlecote House to see this remarkable find for themselves.