Charles Ernest Deacon was born in Liverpool, England on 26 January 1845 and was articled to Sir James Allanson Picton (1805-1889) from 1862 to 1868. He was then employed as an assistant in the offices Edgington & Sons in London; Arthur Harston (1841-1912) and Christopher Harston; William Reid Corson and Robert Walker Aitken; and with Sir William Emerson (1843-1924) as a draughtsman until 1871. He subsequently worked as an independent architect and from 1872 was in partnership with Charles Aldridge (1842-1895). He later took his son, Wilfrid Theodore Deacon (1877-1958), into partnership.
C. E. Deacon was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1891.
His address was given as Central Buildings, North John Street, Liverpool and 12 Bedford Road, Rock Ferry, Cheshire in 1891; and 12 St. George Crescent. Liverpool in 1914 and 1926. He died in Birkenhead, Cheshire on 2 July 1927.
Liverpool School Board Offices, Liverpool; Liverpool Churches: — St. Dunstan's (Earle Road), St. John's (Walton), St. Benedict's (Everton); Lancashire Churches: — St. Ambrose's (Leyland), All Saints' (Rainford), St. John's (Hindley Green) St. Paul's (Wharton) St. Francis (Cherry Tree); Cheshire Churches: — Emanuel (New Brighton) St. Columba's (Egremont), St. Mark's (New Ferry), St. Stephen's (Prenton). Village hails: — Knotty Ash (Liverpool), and Melton (Yorks). St. Peter's Hall, Rockferry (Cheshire); Burton Wood Hall (Lancs). Schools In Liverpool: — Laurence Road, Anfield Road, Beaufort Street. Mersey Park Schools, Birkenhead; John Street Schools, Ellesmere Port; Heathfield Road Schools, Ellesmere Port; domestic work and church restoration [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Avery, Derek. Victorian and Edwardian Architecture. London: Chaucer Press, 2003
Armstrong, Barrie and Armstrong, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts movement in the North West of England: a handbook. Wetherby, England: Oblong Creative Ltd., 2006
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926