Peter Robert Burrow DEAKIN (1920-1997)

Peter Robert Burrow DEAKIN was born in July 1920 at Central Spa Nursing Home, Toddington, Gloucestershire, the eldest son of William George DEAKIN and Dorothea May DEAKIN (née BURROW). Peter was christened at St Andrew’s Church, Toddington, by Padre Warner. His Godparents were Donald Mackenzie, James Stanley Deakin and Margaret E. Speid (m. James Stanley Deakin).

Peter was educated at Malvern College. In the 1939 census, Peter is recorded as being an engineering apprentice. He served as Cpl 941310 P.R.B. Deakin with Air Forces in India during the Second World War. After three years of serving on the plains of India, Peter took leave and spent 14 days in Sikkim, walking in the foothills of the Himalayas with Cpl D. Winer RCAF and Cpl E. Geoff Marples RCAF on a trek lead by experienced guide Karma Paul (Peter’s diary of the trek). At the end of the war, on 12 June 1946, Peter was awarded a certificate of good service and left the RAF in 1948.

After the war Peter returned to live at 90 Victoria Avenue, Worcester, and on 1 April 1948, he married Daphne Noreen TOWNLEY¹ (1912-1992) in Bridgewater, Somerset, and the couple moved to 28 Evesham Road, Cheltenham. The couple later divorced and Daphne moved to Berkshire. In 1965, Peter married Ursula Anne Prince in Bournemouth, Hampshire.

In the early 1960s, Peter purchased Haymes, Cheltenham, and set up Haymes Farm Produce Ltd, a successful business producing mushrooms. In 1965, he married Ursula Anne PRINCE (1916-1990) in Bournemouth, Hampshire.

His wife, Ursula², died aged 74, on 18 August 1990. Ursula was buried in the grounds of Haymes, Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham.

Peter, passed away on 23 January 1997 at Cheltenham General Hospital. His funeral was held at St Michael and All Angels Church in Bishops Cleeve and he is buried alongside his wife, Ursula, in the grounds of Haymes.

Obituary: The Late Mr. Peter R.B. Deakin (source unknown)

The death on 23rd January 1997 of Mr. Peter R.B. Deakin of Haymes Farm Produce Ltd., deal an unexpected blow to the Mushroom Industry and to all who knew him. A stalwart of the industry and a supporter of the Mushroom Growers’ Association. Peter was a dignified and principled man, noted for his honesty and integrity in his business dealings and as one who led by example, setting the highest standards. He was a private man, upright and traditional in his approach to life, and a true Gentleman, to who we referred, out of respect and the old-fashioned courtesy he embodied, as “Mister Deakin”. He had known that he was ill and had put his affairs in order with a great deal of thought for those he would leave behind and it was characteristic of the man that we did not know and had no reason to suspect.

Peter had enjoyed success in the Electronics Industry by the time he returned to the UK and set up Haymes Farm in the early 1960s with his late wife Ursula. From scratch and with no previous knowledge of Mushroom production, but with the assets of intelligence, a quick mind and an insistence upon attention to detail, he built up a successful and respected Business and a loyal and long-serving staff.

In his home village, he was a much respected character whose hospitality and care for others, particularly locally, was legendary. The regular “open house” happy occasions at Haymes on Boxing Day, Fireworks Night, social tennis parties, barbecues and annual children’s pet blessing were very much appreciated and enjoyed by everyone. He was a special, benevolent individual who will be sadly missed.

At his Funeral, it was a tribute to Peter to see so many friends and acquaintances, from all spheres of life, pack St Michael and All Angels Church in Bishops Cleeve to bid farewell to one of a kind.

Notes:

1. Daphne Noreen Deakin, the daughter of Herbert Arthur Townley and Maria Consuelo Townley née England, was born in London on 17 October 1912. Her father was a stockbroker and the family lived at 64 Kensington Gardens Square, London. She died on 25 October 1992 at 79 St Peters Road, Earley, Reading, Berkshire.
2. Ursula Anne Deakin: probate was granted in Bristol on 13 December 1990, £1,552,694.
3. Michael Thomas (Tom) Deakin was born in August 1921 in Toddington, neat Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. Tom died aged 22 months and was buried on 14 June 1923 in the cemetery at Winchcombe.
4. William Deakin was born in November 1922 at the Deakin home in the grounds of the canning factory at Toddington, Gloucestershire. William only lived for 18 hours, he was christened by Rev. Lovett and at home and is buried in the cemetery at Winchcombe.