# William Moon

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{{Short description|British inventor (1818–1894)}}
{{for|the sportsman|Billy Moon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = William Moon
|image         = William Moon Alphabet for the blind.jpg
|caption       = Portrait of William Moon, albumen print, frontispiece, Light for the Blind, c. 1870
|birth_date    = {{Birth date|1818|12|18|df=y}}
|birth_place   = [Horsmonden](/source/Horsmonden), [Kent](/source/Kent), England
|death_date    = {{Death date and age|1894|10|09|1818|12|18|df=y}} 
|death_place   = [Brighton](/source/Brighton), England
|death_cause   = 
|resting_place = Extra-Mural Cemetery, [Brighton](/source/Brighton), [East Sussex](/source/East_Sussex), England
|citizenship   = 
|other_names   = 
|known_for     = inventing [Moon type](/source/Moon_type)
|education     = 
|alma_mater    = 
|employer      = 
|occupation    = [Teacher](/source/Teacher), [Philanthropist](/source/Philanthropist)
|years_active  =
|spouse        = Mary Ann Caudle
|children      = [Robert](/source/Robert_Charles_Moon), Adelaide
|awards        = FRGS (1852), FRSA (1857), Hon. LLD (Philadelphia, 1871)
|footnotes     = 
}}

'''William Moon''' (18 December 1818 – 9 October 1894) was an [Englishman](/source/England) who created [Moon type](/source/Moon_type), the first widely used practical reading alphabet for the blind.

== Life and career ==
Moon was born in [Horsmonden](/source/Horsmonden), [Kent](/source/Kent). As a small child, he lost sight in one [eye](/source/eye) from [scarlet fever](/source/scarlet_fever), and by the age of twenty-one he had become totally [blind](/source/blindness).<ref name=Farrell102>Farrell, p. 102.</ref> He moved in with his widowed mother and sister in [Brighton](/source/Brighton), [East Sussex](/source/East_Sussex). He became a teacher, and taught boys how to read using the existing [embossed](/source/Paper_embossing) reading codes.

Moon realised that the boys found these reading codes difficult to learn. He devised a new system, Moon type, based on a simplified [Latin alphabet](/source/Latin_script), which he designed to be easier to learn.<ref name=Farrell102/> He first formulated his ideas in 1843 and they were published in 1845. Moon type was subsequently replaced in popularity by [Braille](/source/Braille) but it is still important for people who have difficulty reading Braille.

Moon achieved several distinctions during his lifetime: he was elected to fellowships of the [Royal Geographical Society](/source/Royal_Geographical_Society) and the [Royal Society of Arts](/source/Royal_Society_of_Arts) in 1852 and 1857 respectively; he was also awarded an [honorary LLD degree](/source/honorary_degree) by the [University of Philadelphia](/source/University_of_Philadelphia) in 1871.<ref>Day &amp; McNeil 1995, p.499.</ref>

==Family==
Moon was twice married, in 1843 to Mary Ann Caudle, daughter of a Brighton surgeon, who died in 1864; and in 1866 to Anna Maria Elsdale, a granddaughter of [William Leeves](/source/William_Leeves), the composer of '[Auld Robin Gray](/source/Auld_Robin_Gray)'.
By the first marriage he had a son, [Robert Charles Moon](/source/Robert_Charles_Moon), who was of great assistance to him in arranging his type to foreign languages, and was as of 1901 a physician in Philadelphia; and a daughter, who was as of 1901 superintending the undertaking that Moon inaugurated.{{sfn|Davey|1901}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{DNBSupp|wstitle=Moon, William |first=Henry|last=Davey}}

== Bibliography ==
*Day, Lance & McNeil, Ian (editors). 1995. ''Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology''. Routledge.
* {{Cite book |title=The Story of Blindness |last=Farrell |first=Gabriel |year=1956 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |oclc=263655 }}

== External links ==
*[http://www.rnib.org.uk/aboutus/aboutsightloss/famous/Pages/william_moon.aspx Dr William Moon (RNIB)]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moon, William}}
Category:1818 births
Category:1894 deaths
Category:English blind people
Category:British inventors
Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society
Category:People from Horsmonden
Category:19th-century English educators

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [William Moon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moon) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moon?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.