James Stanley DEAKIN (1898-1974)

James Stanley (Stanley/Stan) DEAKIN was the youngest son of William Robert DEAKIN and Mary Jane HARTLEY. Stanley was born on 23 September 1898 in Wigan, Lancashire.

In the 1901 Census, Stanley is recorded as living with his parents, William and Mary DEAKIN at 14, Bridgeman Terrace, Wigan. For 5 years, Stanley was educated at Miss Johnson’s Private School, Park View, Wigan. He later started at Cheltenham Grammar School on 15 September 1909, when his parents moved to live next door to The Canning Factory, Toddington, near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire^.

Photo from The Patesian of 1st XV Cheltenham Grammar School Rugby Team 1915-1916, Stanley seated far right of the front row:

Stanley left Cheltenham Grammar School on 6 April 1916 and briefly attended Manchester Grammar School before being admitted as a Cadet to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst later that year^[6]. The Evesham Journal reported in December 1916:

Mr. James Stanley Deakin (the youngest son of Mr W.R. Deakin, J.P., The Hall, Pershore) has been successful in passing the Entrance Examination to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Mr. James Stanley Deakin is the fourth son of Mr. Deakin to enter the regular army since the commencement of the war. Two sons passed through the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, one being commissioned into the Royal Horse Artillery and one to the Royal Engineers; both are serving in France. Another son, on leaving Sandhurst, was gazetted to the Indian Army, and is now serving in India.

Stanley was commissioned into the Indian Army on 9 December 1917 and served in the First World War. He married, Margaret Evelyn (Babs) Speid in Hale, Cheshire, on 30 October 1924 at that time Stanley was managing the Deakin’s business interests in Pershore and Wigan.

Stanley and Babs had one son:

1. John Hartley DEAKIN, b. 1927, Pershore, Worcestershire.

Stanley and his brother George Deakin took over the Deakin jam manufacturing business at the end of 1936 and the business traded under the name of G. & J.S. Deakin Limited.

Stanley Deakin died on 25 December 1974.