Thomas Russ Deacon (1865-1955)

Civil engineer, businessman, Mayor of Winnipeg (1913-1914).

Born in Perth, Ontario in 1865, son of James and Jane Deacon, he had an elementary education, then worked in the lumber camps of Northern Ontario, returning to school at the age of 20. In 1887, he worked as an assistant surveyor in the Rocky Mountains. He ultimately enrolled at the University of Toronto, graduating with degree in civil engineering in 1891. After graduation, he was employed as a construction superintendent ofthe water works system at North Bay, Ontario.

Deacon moved in 1892 to Rat Portage (now Kenora) as manager of the Ontario Gold Concessions for the district of Rainy River, also serving as managing director and consulting engineer for the Mikado Gold Mining Company. He was also a member of the town council, city engineer for five years, and acting mayor for a year. In 1902 he migrated to Winnipeg and founded Manitoba Bridge and Iron Works with Hugh Buxton Lyall.

He was on the Winnipeg city council in 1906 when the Shoal Lake water supply was discussed, and he promoted Shoal Lake as a source of water for Winnipeg for years thereafter. In 1913 he was elected mayor of Winnipeg on a Shoal Lake platform and he implemented the scheme. He was re-elected mayor in 1914. Deacon was always hostile to trade unions. At one point he advised the city’s unemployed to “hit the trail.” He opposed any limitations on immigration. In 1917 he employed a private-detective agency to supply strikebreakers from Montreal, as well as an anti-picketing injunction and a suit for damages against one of the striking unions. His tactics as employer contributed to the Winnipeg General Strike. In November of 1919, after the strike he introduced a “Work’s Council” system of employee advisory boards into his shop to forestall unionization. Deacon was often employed by labour as the classic example of the anti-union strikebreaking Winnipeg employer.

He was President of the Manitoba Bridge & Iron Works Limited, President of the Manitoba Steel & Iron Company, Vice-President of the Manitoba Rolling Mill Company, a member of the Good Roads Board of Manitoba, a member of the Executive Council Canadian Manufacturers’ Association, and Vice-President of the Employers’ Association of Manitoba.

In 1894, Deacon married Lily Dingman of Belleville, Ontario, with whom he had three sons and a daughter. One son, Lieutenant Lester Jerome Deacon, served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and died in France, 1917. Mrs. Deacon was born in Prince Edward County, Ontario, was educated at Pictou High School and Albert College, Belleville, Ontario; President of the Local Council of Women; President of the Mothers’ Association; Member of the Mothers’ Allowances Commission from its inception; re-appointed to Social Service Council. Deacon was a member of the Masons, the Manitoba Club, and the Southwood Golf Club. He served as President of the Canadian Club of Winnipeg from 1914 to 1915, and the Mayor of Winnipeg Beach (1914).

Deacon disappeared from the public eye after 1919.

There is a clipping file at the Archives of Manitoba.

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, 1911. C. W. Parker, editor. Canadian Press Association, Vancouver.

Profile revised: 26 September 2009

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