George Anthony Hartley (Tony) DEAKIN was the son of George DEAKIN MC and Edith Victoria Winifred (Winsome) DEAKIN MBE (née COMBE). George was born on 4 June 1937 in Pershore, Worcestershire.
George was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford, Sherbourne School, Dorset, and Trinity College, Oxford. As a National Service cavalry officer in the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary’s Own), he was deployed on border patrols in north west Germany and completed the Artic warfare officer’s course in Norway in 1956.
George married Daphne Caroline GILL in 1962 and they had four children. Shortly after his marriage George joined BP. In 1966 he was sponsored by BP to study for an MBA at Insead, the European business school. George spent most of his professional life in South Africa working for BP after postings to Belgium and the United States. In the mid-1990s he led BP’s transition under the new Mandela Government. George and Daphne travelled extensively and on retiring from BP in 1995 moved to Cambridgeshire.
George was awarded CBE in 1996 for services to British interests in South Africa and appointed Chairman of Addenbrooke’s NHS Trust from 1996 to 2003. He was a keen dinghy sailor (he was vice-chairman at the Overy State sailing club, Norfolk). He was a passionate ski tourer, completing the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, aged 63. Tragically he fell into a cravasse above Seas-Fee, Switzerland, on 11 April 2003 and couldn’t be saved. His obituary appeared in The Times on 24 April 2003.
In January 2012, The Deakin Learning Centre, Cambridge, a teaching facility for social care, health and childcare studies and a centre for community activity was opened in his memory.
Parents of George Anthony Hartley DEAKIN
George DEAKIN MC
(1896-1943)
Edith Victoria Winifred DEAKIN MBE
(née COMBE)
(1897-1985)