164 HENRY DEACON 



business to which he had not been brought 

 up ; but wherever he went his personality 

 made itself felt. His quick intellect, his 

 philosophical and speculative habit of mind, 

 his sharp, incisive manner, his thorough 

 careful training, and a certain restless 

 enterprise of character, these would be 

 infallible indications that he would sink into 

 no rut of sheer common-place. 



Messrs. Pilkington permitted their manager 

 to utilize their laboratory for research and 

 experiment, and Deacon had the clear fore- 

 sight to discover the dawning greatness and 

 importance of the alkali trade, and that to him 

 it held out the promise of far greater 

 possibilities than the glass trade. It could 

 be entered on with less capital and on smaller 

 lines ; it was a new, and at that time an almost 

 unbounded field. 



At about the time that Deacon was with 

 Messrs. Pilkington, there was a man in the 

 employ of Mr. Kurtz, who also was wide awake 

 to what was coming, John Hutchinson. He 

 recognised the splendid position of Widnes 

 as a seat for the manufacture of chemicals. 

 Giving up his situation at St. Helens he went 

 to Widnes, and there in an exceedingly small 

 way commenced business on his own account. 



