In 1901 the Council of Headmasters of Institutions of the Deaf was established following a meeting at North Stafford Blind and Deaf school . the original purpose of the group was to act as a lobby and forum for the heads of residential deaf schools, of which a number had been set up by the end of the nineteenth century.
Many of the initial concerns of the Council related to the financing of their schools, in particular through funds available from central government and the local School Boards (later local education authorities). They campaigned for changes to Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act 1893, which had required that deaf schools raise at least a third of their funding from private sources. The Council also campaigned for exemption from local rates, as was enjoyed by other types of elementary school.
The Council was also consented with teacher's qualifications and salaries, and more general questions relating to the education of deaf children, particularly the age at which they entered the schools (the Council favoured early entry). In these areas, they worked with the main professional groups in the area of deaf education,the National Association of Teachers of the Deaf (NATD) and the College of Teachers of the Deaf and Dumb (CTDD). The College was actively involved in improving the status and qualifications of teachers of the deaf (it awarded a special diploma). The NATD and CTDD merged in 1918 to form the National College of Teachers of the Deaf (later known as the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD). In 1910, the Council agreed to allow membership of the day schools for deaf children, and it was henceforth known as the Council of Principals of Schools for the Deaf.
In the inter-war period The Council was a participant in discussions of the major report on deaf education, Dr A Eichholz, "A study of the Deaf in England and Wales, 1930-1932..."(1934). It was also had links with the University of Manchester's Department of Education of the Deaf, set up in 1919, the first university department to specialise in deaf teaching. Although the Council continued to enjoy good levels of membership, there was a dropping off of its work in the post-1945 period, and in 1954, it was agreed to temporarily wind up the Council. Its last meeting was held on 12 March 1954.