Freemasonry and the connection with rock music royalty in Leicester
Dr. Andrew R. Green
Arthur Henry Deacon was born to John Henry Deacon, a shoe clicker at W.A. Smith Boot Manufacturers, and Marion Spence, who were at the time living at Harrington Street, Belgrave, Leicester, on 3 May 1919.
Very little is known about Arthur's early years, but as the Second World War continued, he joined the Royal Regiment of Artillery, finding himself part of the Desert Rats serving in the Middle East, including Libya, during early 1942. Within a couple of months, however, he was recovering from an unknown injury at the No.3 Convalescent Depot in Nathanya, Palestine (now Netanya, Israel) before moving to Tel Aviv.
By August 1942, he was 'somewhere in Egypt', and eight months later, he found himself in Cairo. Between May and November 1943, he attended the Officer Cadet Training Unit, was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, and was immediately sent to Alexandria prior to the war ending.
During military service, he kept in regular contact with his partner, Lillian Mollie Perkins, a shorthand typist, updating her with his movements and sending her photographs of him in various parts of the Middle East. On 19 February 1944 and by special licence, he married Mollie at St Philip's Church, Evington, in Leicester. Their first child, Robert Bryan Deacon, was born in 1947 – but sadly died aged six years old due to aplastic anaemia,
possibly related to the use of oral chloramphenicol. Their second son, John Richard Deacon, was born at St Francis' Private Hospital, London Road, Oadby, on 20 August 1951, and their daughter, Julie Davina Deacon, was born at the same hospital in 1956.
Arthur worked at the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd based on the corner of Bowling Green and Horsefair Streets, Leicester, as a junior clerk, working his way up to an Insurance Inspector and eventually being promoted to Chief Inspector based in their new offices 'Norwich House' which opened on Horsefair Street in 1952.
It was whilst working with Freemason Eric G. Pycroft, Manager at the Norwich Union, that Arthur was proposed as a member of Granstone Lodge. He was Initiated into Freemasonry, aged 36, at the January meeting of the Lodge at Freemasons' Hall, Leicester, in 1956. His seconder was Arthur R. Ralph, a Bank Manager. At the ceremony, the Master invited Percival A. Ward to occupy the Chair for the Initiation ceremony.
The Initiates Charge was "most ably given" by the Junior Warden, who was also Arthur's Proposer. He was Passed to the degree of a Fellowcraft in March 1956 by his Seconder and Raised to Master Mason in November 1956, receiving his Grand Lodge Certificate at the next meeting in December. Having lived in Evington since getting married, the family moved to Hidcote Road, Oadby in 1960.
Unfortunately, however, just three years later, Arthur died on 27 May 1963 at home, aged just 44, after a prolonged battle against stomach cancer. Arthur's widow, Mollie, subsequently brought up their two children, John and Julie, encouraging them to study hard, perhaps reinforcing her experiences in her own childhood, being that her father was a schoolmaster.
Arthur was a "devoted daddy" and was very close to his son John. Whilst the death of his father at the age of 10 deeply affected him, he clearly had a strong influence on John. He encouraged John to engage with his own hobby of electronics, which eventually sparked an interest in his son so much that he wanted to pursue a career in this area.
In addition to electronics, he also loved music, which he consoled himself with after his father's death. His parents bought him his first guitar at the age of seven, and by 14, he joined a local band, the (New) Opposition, later called The Art. The band, where he primarily played bass guitar, had a repertoire of pop, soul and Tamla Motown cover versions and regularly held gigs locally across Leicestershire from 1966 to 1969 in venues such as the Casino Ballroom, which was further up from Freemasons' Hall in London Road, Leicester.
Having gained three A-levels, all grade A, in maths, further maths and physics, at Beauchamp Grammar School, Oadby John secured a place at Chelsea College London University, now part of Kings's College London, where he gained a BSc first class honours degree in electronics. 10 It was whilst he was studying in London that John auditioned for a relatively new band in February 1971 at Imperial College, which had struggled to find a consistent bass guitarist. The audition was clearly successful as the very next day, he was invited to join the band, which was fronted by Farrokh Bulsara, whose stage name was eventually to become the more familiar Freddie Mercury.
This marked the beginning of the band Queen, and along with Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor OBE have endured as a worldwide phenomenon since the mid-1970s. John retired from band in 1997 following the death of Freddie Mercury, but the band's musical legacy continues to entertain and influence new generations.
John, who played the electronic bass guitar, has contributed many well-known bass riffs on classics such as Under Pressure and penned hit songs, including Another One Bites the Dust and I Want to Break Free. Despite John being born and raised in Leicester, Queen, however, only played in the city just once, as part of the student social and art Christmas Ball at Leicester University on 15 December 1973. They played in the University Hall, and John's mother and sister were invited by John to watch them.
John was also instrumental in helping to achieve part of the distinctive sound of Brian May's electronic guitar. Inspired by his father's tinkering with electronics, John modified a radio/cassette player transistor amplifier that he found in a skip along with a hi-fi bookshelf speaker box to create an amplifier affectionately known as the 'Deacy Amp' which has been used on many Queen recordings.
In the latter years of her life, as her health declined, Mollie became a resident at the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institute Care Home, Devonshire Court, in Oadby. She was very open to recounting her fond memories of the early days when she used to help take her
son, John, and the rest of the band to local gigs. John was a sometime visitor to Devonshire Court before she sadly passed away, aged 85, on 1 January 2006.
Whilst Mollie's husband Arthur had only been a Freemason for only a relatively short period, the Lodge and its connected charities continued to provide comfort and assistance to his family for over four decades. Arthur also played a key influence on his son, John, inspiring him to pursue a keen interest in electronics and music, leading him to be part of a hugely successful band, Queen, which has sold more than 300 million albums
worldwide.
Acknowledgements: Granstone Lodge No.6406, Richard Laurence.
