DEACON

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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26.7.1843 Bridgwater/UK - 17.6.1909 Addington/UK

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George Frederick Deacon was educated at Glasgow University. He accompanied in 1865 the ship Great Eastern as an assistant to Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) when the telephone cable was laid as a connection from England to the United States. In 1871, Deacon was appointed engineer for Liverpool during which time he was active for the Vyrnwy water supply scheme. He moved to London as a consultant in 1890 to partly collaborate with Thomas Hawksley (1807-1893). Deacon presided over the Association of the Municipal and County Engineers in 1878, the Engineering Section Sanitary Engineers in 1894 and the Royal Institute of Public Health in 1903. He was awarded the Telford, the Watt and the George Stephenson Medals of the Institution of Civil Engineers, among others. He was also decorated with the Honorary Doctorate of Glasgow University.

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Deacon's name is associated to the Vyrnwy water scheme in Wales. It included the first high masonry dam in Britain with a spillway. The dam was built as part of an extensive water engineering system to deliver water from Lake Vyrnwy to Liverpool. Its top length is 400 m, its height 41 m and it has a maximum base width of 36 m. During construction each stone was closely bedded into concrete mortar and the spaces between filled with mortar to make the structure watertight. A drainage system at the base of the dam prevents building up of water pressure that might otherwise lead to the overturning of the structure. The complete scheme including the Vyrnwy Viaduct as described in his 1875 paper was formally opened by the Duke of Connaught in 1892, after 11 years of works. The design was made by Deacon in collaboration with Thomas Hawksley.

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_{Anonymous (1909). George Frederick Deacon. Engineering 87: 857-859. P}

_{Anonymous (1920). Deacon, George F. Who was who 1897-1916 1: 187. Black: London. Davidson, I. (1987). George Deacon and Vyrnwy works. Trans. Newcomen Society 59: 81-95. Deacon, G.F. (1873). Report of the Borough and water engineer upon the condition and venti- lation of the sewers. Benson&Holme: Liverpool.}

_{Deacon, G.F. (1875). On the systems of constant and intermittent water supply, and the prevention of waste. Clowes&Sons: London.}

_{Deacon, G.F. (1896). The Vyrnwy works for the water supply of Liverpool. Minutes Proc.}

_{Institution of Civil Engineers 126(4): 24-67.}

_{Pike, W.T., ed. (1908). George Frederick Deacon. British engineers and allied professions in the 20th century: 196. Pike: Brighton. P}