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a Petty Officer in the Hong Kong Royal Naval Reserve (Lack; 1999).# Deakin later became Assistant Superintendent of Lights, the Number Two to Terrence Vincent Courtney, an Australian. When the latter retired Deakin took over as Superintendent although he himself never actually served as a lighthouse keeper. He proved to be an excellent man-manager (according to Lack), and he significantly raised the efficiency and morale of the Lighthouse Section. He followed in Courtney's footsteps in improving the living conditions of lighthouse staff. He was described by Lack as the "salt of the earth.” Attempts were made, it is understood, unsuccessfully, to get him a decoration in the Queen's Honours List for which competition was keen.
At one time Deakin started, so he told the author in 1990, to write a history of lighthouses. It was never finished. He was buried in the Chiu Yuen Eurasian Cemetery, at Mount Davis, in 1995. On his gravestone, in both English and Chinese, are the characters, ‘A fighter to the end." The author attended his funeral.
At one stage Deakin told the author, when Waglan Lighthouse was managed by the Chinese Maritime Customs from 1893 (which is the date on the lighthouse bell), it was manned by German keepers. That was before it was taken over by the British Colonial Government on 1st January 1901. After it was handed over to the British it soon became the practice for lighthouses to be manned by Eurasians, in the same way that railways in India were staffed to a large extent by Anglo-Indians.
The post of lighthouse keeper was seen rather as a middle management, technician-type of job, which offspring of, typically, British military fathers and Chinese mothers, could handle adequately. Indeed servicemen sometimes took their discharge in the Crown Colony. The job of lighthouse keeper required a reasonable amount of intelligence, integrity, attention to detail, personal discipline, self-sufficiency and the ability to live communally,
Up to about 1960, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank recruited Eurasian and Portuguese as clerks, secretaries and typists. The Bank only recruited Chinese as janitors and for similar, low-level posts. Likewise, in those days Chinese were not employed as lighthouse keepers. In the late 1990s a (Chinese) member of staff of the Marine
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a Petty Officer in the Hong Kong Royal Naval Reserve (Lack; 1999).# Deakin later became Assistant Superintendent of Lights, the Number Two to Terrence Vincent Courtney, an Australian. When the latter retired Deakin took over as Superintendent although he himself never actually served as a lighthouse keeper. He proved to be an excellent man- manager (according to Lack), and he significantly raised the efficiency and morale of the Lighthouse Section. He followed in Courtney's footsteps in improving the living conditions of lighthouse staff. He was described by Lack as the "salt of the earth.” Attempts were made it is understood, unsuccessfully, to get him a decoration in the Queen's Honours List for which competition was keen.
At one time Deakin started, so he told the author in 1990, to write a history of lighthouses. It was never finished. He was buried in the Chiu Yuen Eurasian Cemetery, at Mount Davis, in 1995. On his gravestone, in both English and Chinese, are the characters, ‘A fighter to the end." The author attended his funeral.
At one stage Deakin told the author, when Waglan Lighthouse was managed by the Chinese Maritime Customs from 1893 (which is the date on the lighthouse bell), it was manned by German keepers. That was before it was taken over by the British Colonial Government on 1st January 1901. After it was handed over to the British it soon became the practice for lighthouses to be manned by Eurasians, in the same way that railways in India were staffed to a large extent by Anglo- Indians.
The post of lighthouse keeper was seen rather as a middle management, technician-type of job, which offspring of, typically, British military fathers and Chinese mothers, could handle adequately. Indeed servicemen sometimes took their discharge in the Crown Colony. The job of lighthouse keeper required a reasonable amount of intelligence, integrity, attention to detail, personal discipline, self- sufficiency and the ability to live communally,
Up to about 1960, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank recruited Eurasian and Portuguese as clerks, secretaries and typists. The Bank only recruited Chinese as janitors and for similar, low-level posts. Likewise, in those days Chinese were not employed as lighthouse keepers. In the late 1990s a (Chinese) member of staff of the Marine
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