Aug. 4. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



85 



DR. THOMAS DEACON. 



Can any of your readers give any information 

 respecting Dr^ Thomas Deacon, a nonjuring 

 bishop, who died at Manchester, February 16ih, 

 1753 ? It is ascertained that he went into Hol- 

 land in the autumn of 1716, where he lived on 

 his own fortune ; that, on his return to England, 

 he studied medicine in London under Dr. Mead; 

 that he afterwards resided in Manchester, where 

 he practised physic in 1719 or 1720, and where he 

 was living at the time of the rebellion of 1745, In 

 which three of his sons were concerned. He 

 officiated in a chapel in Fennel Street, for which 

 he published a Collection of Devotions in 1734. 

 He was buried in the north-east corner of St. 

 Anne's churchyard, where many other members 

 of his family are also interred. Mr. Perceval, in 

 the Appendix to his Apology for the Apostolical 

 Succession (second edition), states that he was 

 consecrated bishop by Archibald Campbell and 

 Roger Lawrence. This appears to have taken 

 place in 1733. 



The following is a list of his writings, to which 

 perha{)s some of your readers can add : 



" The Doctrine of the Church of Rome concerning Pur- 

 gatory, 1718, 12mo., London. A Complete Collection 

 of Devotions, both Public and Private, 8vo., London, 

 1734. Translation of Tillemont's Ecclesiastical Me- 

 moirs (as far as A. d. 177), 2 vols, folio, 1733-5. A 

 Full, True, and Comprehensive View of Christianity, 

 8vo., London, 1747. An Apologetical Epistle to the 

 Author of Eemarks on Two Pamphlets lately published 

 against Dr. Middleton's Introductory Discourse ; in which 

 the Preface to those Remarks is considered, 8vo., Lon- 

 don, 1748." 



E. T. S. 



[It is much to be regretted that we have no good bio- 

 graphical account of this remarkable man and admirable 

 scholar. We are enabled, from various sources, to supply 

 a few additional particulars to those furnished by our cor- 

 respondent. In 1715 Deacon was residing in London, 

 and drew up the speeches for the Rev. Justice Paul and 

 John Hall, Esq., who were concerned in the rebellion at 

 that time (Byrom's Remains, vol. i. p. 178.), and was 

 probably present at their execution. A Presbyterian 

 teacher at Rochdale, of the name of Owen, in the preface 

 to the second edition of a pamphlet, entitled Jacobite and 

 Nonjuring Principles freely examined, states that Deacon 

 attended these two individuals on the scaffold, and that 

 he likewise absolved them. This is denied by Deacon, 

 who says : " I did not ofiSciate with those unfortunate 

 gentlemen in their dying moments ; the clergyman who 

 did was the Rev. Francis Peck, M.A., formerly of Trinitj' 

 College, Cambridge; but neither he, nor any other 

 person, did there and then absolve them." (^Gent.Mag., 

 vol. xviii. p. 206.) About three months after this event 

 Deacon went to reside in Holland, where he lived on his 

 own private resources. On his return to London he be- 

 came the pupil of the celebrated Dr. Mead, physician to 

 George II., whom Deacon styled " the best of friends, and 

 the very worthy and learned Dr. Mead." 



In 1745, during the rebellion under the Pretender, 

 Deacon was residing at Manchester as a medical prac- 

 titioner. Three of his sons joined the standard of Charles 

 Edward Stuart, in what was called the Manchester regi- 



No. 30L] 



ment, commanded by Colonel Townlej'. At this time it 

 appears Deacon had an interview with the Pretender at 

 his lodgings, which afterwards rendered him obnoxious 

 to the government : for, according to his own statement, 

 " his house was searched for papers by military violence, 

 under colour of a warrant signed by two justices of the 

 peace, who (he says) have no authority to issue warrants 

 in such cases ; that it was attacked more than once by a 

 furious mob and unrestrained soldiery; that he lived "for 

 some time under constant apprehensions of its being 

 pulled down to the ground, and of his being compelled to 

 remove his children out of their beds to prevent their 

 being buried under its ruins." (^Gent. Mag., vol. xviii, 

 p. 206.) Owen accuses Deacon with having visited the 

 Court of the Pretender for the purpose of obtaining abso- 

 lution for having sworn allegiance to George I. He says : 

 " I dare tell you that our present government has enemies, 

 and what kind of men they are. Be it at Bologne or 

 Avignon, or whatever other place that your vagrant idol 

 keeps up the mock state of a court, I dare tell you that 

 the man who visits it to procure an absolution for having 

 abjured Popery and the Pretender, and sworn allegiance 

 to King George, and yet calls himself a good Protestant 

 and a good subject, either affronts other men's under- 

 standings, or betrays the weakness of his own." (Owen's 

 Letter, p. 7.) Again, in a postscript (p. 156.), Owen adds : 

 " Should the reader be at a loss to judge who that good 

 Protestant is, who visited the Pretender's Court to pro- 

 cure an absolution for having sworn allegiance to King 

 George, 1 refer him. Sir, to you as my interpreter." 



On July 17, 1746, Thomas Theodorus Deacon, one of 

 the Doctor's sons, was indicted at the special commission, 

 holden in Southwark, for appearing in arms against the 

 king as captain in the Manchester regiment ; and being 

 found guiltj', was executed with eight of his companions 

 on Kennington Common on the 30th of the same month. 

 After he was decapitated, his head was taken to Man- 

 chester and fixed on the Exchange. On one occasion, it 

 is said, that when the Doctor was passing the Exchange 

 where the head of his son was suspended, he took off his 

 hat, and remained for a short time, as it is conjectured, in 

 silent prayer for the departed spirit of his child. This 

 appears probable, as the Doctor strenuously defended the 

 practice of " offering and praying for the faithful departed, 

 as delivered in Scripture and by tradition " (see his View 

 of Christianity, pp. 336 — 340.). His son Charles, also en- 

 gaged in the Rebellion, was conveyed on Jan. 11, 1749, 

 from the new gaol, Southwark, to Gravesend, for transport- 

 ation during life. Another son died whilst being conveyed 

 from Manchester to London for trial. 



Dr. Deacon died on Feb. 16, 1753 ; and was buried in 

 St. Anne's churchyard, Manchester. The following in- 

 scription was placed on his tomb : 



" El fi.i\ ev {TTCLvpif'" — [Gal. vi. 14.] 



" Here lie interred the remains (which, though mor- 

 tality is at present corrupt, but which shall one day most 

 surely be raised again to immortality, and put on incor- 

 ruption) of Thomas Deacon, the greatest of sinners, and 

 the most unworthy of primitive bishops, who died 16th 

 February, 1753, in the fifty-sixth year of his age; and of 

 Sarah his wife, who died July 4, 1745, in the forty-fifth 

 year of her age. The Lord grant the faithful, here under- 

 lying, the mercy of the Lord in that day. 2 Tim. i. 18. 



" 'El' TOVTIff VlKa." 



In addition to the works noticed by our correspondent, 

 Deacon translated the History of the Arians and the 

 Council of Nice from Tillemont, published in 1721, 2 vols. 

 8vo. ; and subsequently, Ecclesiastical Memoirs of the 



