ABSTRACT
George Frederick Deacon was born at Bridgwater in July 1843. He was the eldest son of Frederick Deacon, who practised as a solicitor first in Bridgwater and later in Preston. The son was educated at Heversham Grammar School, and was apprenticed to Robert Napier & Sons, Glasgow, in 1860. He entered Glasgow University in 1863, where he studied under Professor Rankine and under William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), with the latter of whom he formed a lasting friendship. These studies were prematurely concluded when Deacon sailed on the Great Eastern during the abortive attempt to lay a second Atlantic cable in 1865.
