Author: Deacon, Daniel
Biography:
DEACON, Daniel (1763-1806: ancestry.co.uk)
He was born on 29 Apr. 1763 and baptised as Daniel Dakeyne on 11 May at Darley, Derbyshire, one of at least twelve children of Daniel Dakeyne (also sometimes spelled Deacon) (1734-1819), banker, cotton spinner, mill owner, and general merchant, and his wife Hannah Bollington, who had married in 1757. His grandfather John Dakin (sic) (1698-1777) lived at Knabb House, Darley Dale, and his father built Holt Hall around 1780. Both houses still stand. He was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1789 and joined the family banking firm and flax-mill business. His brothers Edward and James were known for their inventions in flax spinning and manufacture. The bank ran into trouble in 1801 and various members of the family, including his father and brothers, were involved in bankruptcy proceedings. They seem to have managed to retain the house, mills, and workers’ cottages in the village of Toad Hole (now Two Dales) and dividends were paid out the following year. He also carried out extensive antiquarian and genealogical work on Derbyshire and Derbyshire families: his widow later gave the Derbyshire historian Stephen Glover access to seven manuscript volumes of genealogies. He married Mary Barber on 18 Nov. 1793 at St. Mary’s, Ecclesfield, Sheffield. They had at least five children. He died on 1 May 1806 at Holt Hall, and was buried at Darley on 6 May. He published his Poems (1790) under the name D. Deacon, Jr., possibly to distance his authorship from the family business, but it was widely known and the lead poem, “The Triumph of Liberty,” is a minor, though interesting, political poem. (ancestry.co.uk 20 Jan. 2023; findmypast.co.uk 20 Jan. 2023; Stephen Glover, History of the County of Derby, ed. Thomas Noble [1829], 2: 361-64 [includes family tree]; Manchester Mercury 13 May 1806; London Gazette, various issues 1801; William Smith and Co., A List of Bankrupts [1806]; Dakeyne Family Papers, Derbyshire Record Office, D9) AA
Other Names:
- D. Deacon, Jr.