Augustus Oakley Deacon (1819-1899)

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

APPENDIX (TABLE F) of:

R E C O R D S OF THE Family of Deacon OF KETTERING AND LONDON, WITH NOTICES OF ALLIED FAMILIES

AUGUST OAKLEY DEACON, the eldest son of John Deacon and his wife Laura, née Oakley, and brother of Harry C. and William M. Deacon, was born in Piccadilly, London, in 1819. His mother’s family were of foreign extraction, being descended from Count Mionet, who came to England in the suite of William III., with his wife, two sons, and a daughter. The elder son was a physician, and the younger became chaplain to George II.; the daughter was the ancestress of the Oakley family. Augustus O. Deacon was educated at a private school (Mr. Hill’s) in one of the Midland counties, and continued his studies at the London University. On the expiration of his student days he entered the office of Brunel, the celebrated civil engineer, where he remained for some years, during which time he devoted the greater part of his leisure to studying drawing and painting, which he felt to be the direction in which his chief talent lay. Ultimately he abandoned civil engineering, and devoted the whole of his time to painting and teaching drawing. Amongst some of his pupils in London were the families of the Earl of Harrington, Earl Fitzwilliam, etc., his connection with whom induced him to take up residence in Derby in the year 1846, where he continued to instruct the above and many other leading families in the counties of Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, and York. He initiated, organized, and conducted the Derby School of Art, by which true Art was for the first time in Derby placed within the reach of the middle and lower classes. This School was highly successful, and continued in operation until the institution of the South Kensington Science and Art Scheme.

Augustus O. Deacon turned his attention to teaching more than to painting, partly for financial reasons, but more particularly from the desire to impart his knowledge to others with the view of promoting the study of true Art. He therefore held with pleasure the position of Drawing Master at the public schools of Repton and Derby, and at many private schools. His tenure of office at Repton extended from 1855 to 1880. That he left a strong impress on many of his pupils during this period is evidenced from many letters which have been received from them. Archdeacon Sinclair writes:—

“The weekly drawing lesson at Repton was a real delight. Repton was a picturesque village, and abounded in studies for composition, and Mr. Deacon was the most conscientious of teachers. His methods were exceedingly correct, and his way of teaching perspective was admirable. He would allow nothing but the most honest and careful work; and his criticisms as he came round to our various camp-stools were always con- vincing and useful. . . . . . He was a shrewd and kind friend, and much respected and liked by all his pupils, without exception. My brother John, now Vicar of Cirencester, and my second brother, Hugh, Lieut- Col. R.E., now in India, would both say exactly the same as I do. They have both remained admirable draughtsmen and good colourists; and the power of sketching from Nature which was first learned from Mr. Deacon, has been a great happiness to all three.”

The Rev. H. F. W. Deane (of St. George’s, Windsor Castle) says:—

“I have most grateful recollections of Mr. A. O. Deacon between 1870 and 1877. His earnest enthusiastic face, grave yet encouraging criticism, and personal interest in each pupil have lived in one’s mind ever since. One’s impression is that we were never allowed to idle, and always required to think. What he did for us was to lay a solid foundation of love for the best in Art, and give us sound instruction on excellent lines. No one can forget the sketching of Church,* and Arch, Hall, Priory, and Barn, and there must be many whose interest in architecture and antiquities dates from Repton ‘drawing days.’ ”

Another pupil, Mr. Henry J. Ford (a well-known artist), writes as follows:—

“I have a great pleasure in putting in writing the debt of gratitude that I feel I owe to the late A. O. Deacon, who was Head Drawing- Master when I was at Repton. I remember well his constant patience and kindliness to us young draughtsmen. And how ready he was to give special care to any one who took a real interest in his work. I can personally testify to the advantage I gained by his advice and example; and yet I have a feeling that he was too good an artist to make quite an ideal drawing-master, and that the natural bent of his quiet and some- what reserved nature would have led him to devote all his time to work done simply for the love of art; and I felt in his case that a delicate and keen sense of beauty was rather thrown away in the rough work of correcting boys’ copies, and keeping them in order. Of his personal character I retain a strong impression. He was always the same quiet, high-minded gentleman, with whom no boy ever ventured to take a liberty. All respected him, and many of us had a strong affection for him. He had the qualities which always command the respect of boys—a high sense of honour, and scrupulous care and love of justice in discharging his duty towards them.”

Notwithstanding the large number of his pupils A. O. Deacon found time to paint many pictures, some of which were exhibited in the Royal Academy and the Old Water-Colour Society’s Gallery. His paintings, both in oil and water-colour, generally took the form of landscape, but he painted sea pictures of great merit. He also devoted some time to giving public lectures on Art. His interests, however, were not confined to Art. He played an important part in the encouragement of the study of Science and Literature in Derby, and in conjunction with Mr. Herbert Spencer, assisted in forming the Derby Literary and Scientific Society. He possessed considerable histrionic talent, and, with a few others, initiated the first Derby Amateur Theatrical Society (a very superior one), in which he took a prominent part.

About the year 1880 the great calamity of blindness befell him—an affliction borne with the utmost patience and resignation; no murmur ever escaped his lips. In token of their appreciation of his work and of their sympathy with him in his misfortune, his old pupils and friends presented him with a handsome testimonial, consisting of a life annuity. After he became blind he continued to take a keen interest in everything relating to Art, and kept well abreast of its progress and development. He found great comfort and interest in the continuation of his scientific and philosophical studies, to which he had devoted much time, thought, and discussion in his earlier days in conjunction with his old friend Mr. Herbert Spencer.

His indifferent health during the last thirty years of his life put a limit upon the quantity of his work, but up to the time when he lost his sight his true conception of the beauties of Nature and his power to translate them to canvas never failed him, some of his latest pictures being amongst the best of his paintings. As a commercially successful artist he did not shine, possessing as he did a delicate refinement of feeling to which commercial dealings and self-advertisement were most repugnant. He died at Nottingham after a short illness on December 31st, 1899, at the age of 80, and was buried in Nottingham Cemetery. He had married in 1844 his second-cousin Anne Maria E. Deacon (daughter of Mr. Thomas Deacon), who survives him. Eight children were born to them, six of whom predeceased their father.

• Repton

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