Many entered the First World War full of optimism that the conflict would be over by Christmas with minimal casualties.

The truth was very different.

Millions were killed and even more injured. Some were maimed, shell-shocked or paralysed, and many were blinded.

Arthur Pearson, a practical man with a good business record, decided to found a centre for war-blinded men, which he called St Dunstan’s in the mistaken belief he was the patron saint of the blind.

The name didn’t matter, although it is still used today, but what did count was the comfort Pearson brought to these men, despite the hell they had been through and his inability to restore their sight.

Staff at St Dunstan’s treated their injuries and made sure the soldiers could go confidently back into the world after the war, despite their handicap.

What makes this story all the more remarkable is that Pearson himself was blind.

His sight deteriorated from childhood and went completely when he was 48.

Born in 1866, the son of a clergyman, Pearson began his career in journalism.

He founded the Daily Express, which was to become one of the world’s most famous newspapers under the guidance of Lord Beaverbrook.

Pearson also helped Robert Baden-Powell start the Boy Scout movement in the Edwardian age and financed an expedition to find the giant sloth of South America, an animal previously thought by many to be extinct.

Pearson was a gregarious man whose friends included Queen Alexandra and the Conservative politician Joseph Chamberlain. Yet a new biography by Andrew Norman says that inwardly he was riddled with insecurity, which is understandable considering his deteriorating sight.

Pearson, who was eventually knighted for his work, opened St Dunstan’s in the middle of the war from a base in London, using a large mansion near Regent’s Park. As the number of blinded servicemen grew, more buildings were used in Portland Place.

Sadly, Pearson died in an accident at his home in 1921, drowning in his bath. The funeral was attended by 1,800 St Dunstan patients.

His widow, Lady Pearson, launched an appeal in his name to help St Dunstan’s and other charities, including The Fresh Air Fund for children.

Ian Fraser, who became chairman of St Dunstan’s when only 24, helped supervise a move to Brighton soon after the war, firstly to Pearson House in Kemp Town and later to the art deco-style purpose-built centre at Ovingdean.

The foundation stone was laid by Lady Pearson.

The Brighton building has been extended and modernised several times and continues to help those blinded in conflicts, including Britain’s oldest man, 113-year-old Henry Allingham, who lived there up until his death last month.

* Father Of The Blind by Andrew Norman (The History Press, £16.99) Visit www.the historypress.co.uk. All royalties will be donated to charities for the blind in Britain and Commonwealth nations that fought in the First World War.