Henry Deacon (30 July 1822 – 23 July 1876) was a chemist and industrialist who established a chemical factory in Widnes, Lancashire, England. Henry Deacon's father was also named Henry Deacon and his mother was Esther Deacon, his father's cousin. The family were members of the Sandemanian church, one of whose members, Michael Faraday, was a friend of the Deacon family. Faraday played an important part in the development of Henry junior's life and development. His education was at a Quaker school in Tottenham. He was apprenticed at the age of 14 to the London engineering firm of Galloway & Sons. When this company failed, he joined the business of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company in their factory at Patricroft, Manchester, on the banks of the Bridgewater Canal. In the 1840s he moved to Pilkingto