Thomas Theodorus Deacon

Thomas Deacon was born to Dr Thomas and Sarah Deacon at Fennel Street, Manchester (ODNB). Young Thomas was educated at Salford Grammar School--James Dawson, who would be executed alongside Thomas, was a schoolfellow. Thomas was to follow his father in the medical profession (Monod, Jacobitism and the English People, pp. 333-34), but was also interested in theological pursuits, translating into English, with his brother Robert Renatus Deacon, a portion of Remy Ceiller's Analysis of the Works of All the Sacred and Ecclesiastical Authors (Chetham Library, MS/1/294). Thomas joined the rising along with brothers Robert and Charles. According to a contemporary source he was favoured to replace Francis Towneley as Colonel when Towneley was being considered for command of a Regiment of Horse (Wedderburn, Genuine Account, p. 10). At trial, witnesses testified that Thomas was seen wearing a plaid waistcoat, was active in recruiting and had participated in forcing a printer's servant to print "treasonable Papers which they call'd a Manifesto, and likewise an Advertisement; both of which were deliver'd to the Court and read" (General London Evening Mercury, July 24, 1746). Following execution, Thomas's body was buried at Red Lion Fields, while his head was sent to Manchester to be mounted on the Exchange next to Thomas Syddall's (Westminster Journal, August 9, 1746), where it remained until it was illegally removed in January 1751-52 (London Evening Post, January 31 - February 2, 1751).