Architects

Name:

Francis William Deas

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Year Only

Exact DOB:

04/04/1926

Year of Birth :

1862

Circa Year of Birth :

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DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):

Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

13/11/1951

Year of Death:

Circa Year of Death:

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Date of Death After (Year):

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DOD (2nd 'Or' Year):

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Bio Notes :

Francis William Deas was born in 1862 at Haslar, Hampshire, the son of Sir David Deas KCB MD RN, naval surgeon, and his wife Margaret Hepburn. He was a grandson of Francis Deas of Falkland. Sir David died in 1876 and his brother Lord Deas, a lawlord, assumed responsibility for Francis's education at Charterhouse and at Edinburgh University where he graduated MA. In 1890 Deas was articled to Robert Rowand Anderson, attending the School of Applied Art under Professor Frank Worthington Simon for three years. He left Anderson's office in 1896 and spent the following eighteen months travelling, spending his time chiefly on measured drawings. He commenced practice at 63 Frederick Street, Edinburgh, on his return home in 1897, sharing an office with another Anderson pupil, Victor Daniel Horsburgh. By 1902 he had moved to 15 Rutland Square with a house at 12 Magdala Place.

Deas and Horsburgh were both friends of Lorimer, whom Deas first met in 1893. From a letter of Lorimer's to Deas we learn that Lorimer joined in part of Deas's study tour, accompanying him on his visit to Norman Shaw's Dawpool, and that he persuaded Deas to become an architect rather than an interior decorator - presumably on the Scott Morton-Whytock and Reid model - as had been his original intention. After Dods emigrated to Australia, Deas became Lorimer's closest friend; both were musical and frequently went to concerts together. Deas also enjoyed travelling, walking, lawn tennis, squash and gardening. His practice was never extensive and depended on a few very rich clients of whom the most important was the Earl of Moray. His best work at Braehead, Fyndynate and Kellas has a refined Lorimerian arts-and-crafts quality.

Deas was nominated FRIBA by Lorimer, Harold Ogle Tarbolton and Alexander Hunter Crawford and admitted on 4 March 1907. Although he never married, in 1908-10 he built for himself The Murrel near Aberdour a remarkable pantiled Arts and Crafts house and garden on which Gertrude Jekyll is said to have advised, and received considerable publicity from its inclusion in Sir Lawrence Weaver's 'Small Country Houses of Today' and Gertrude Jekyll and Sir Lawrence Weaver's 'Gardens of Small Houses'. In 1915 he was obliged to sell it as his investments were mainly in Austria and Turkey and the practice was at a very low ebb. He then bought a house in Greenhill Gardens, Edinburgh where he lived for the remainder of his life.

Deas's finances recovered after the First World War as did his practice with a major reconstruction of Toward Castle for Andrew Coats in 1921-28. At the conclusion of the work there he became semi-retired, assisting Christopher Hussey with his study of Lorimer's work, a task the latter had inherited from Sir Lawrence Weaver. On 13 February 1931 he gave a paper at the RIBA on Lorimer's work, which was published in the RIBA Journal on 21 February 1931. Hussey acknowledged his debt to Deas in his biography of Lorimer, writing that Deas 'placed his knowledge, his house, and much time at my disposal in such a way that all were as delightful as invaluable,'

A pencil portrait of Deas at the piano by John Henry Lorimer records his slight build. He retired completely in 1937. In his retirement he gardened at Greenhill Gardens and took an interest in the careers of Lorimer's sons. Hew Lorimer remembered him as kind and affable…'enjoyed a joke - provided it was in good taste' and that he never had any regrets about having to give up The Murrel. 'I enjoyed doing it, and that was all that mattered to me… It did not have the same interest once the thing was done and the planting was as good as it could be.'

Deas died on 13 November 1951 in his eightieth year and in his obituary he is described as a landscape painter as well as an architect. His collection of T'ang pottery and other objets d'art were gifted to the Royal Scottish Museum.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Private Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Notes
12 Magdala Place Edinburgh Scotland	Private	His mother's house
The Murrel Aberdour Fife Scotland	Private
House Greenhill Gardens Edinburgh Scotland	Private
West Grange Grange Loan Edinburgh Scotland	Private
12 Greenhill Park Edinburgh Scotland	Private	Died here

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To	Notes
63 Frederick Street Edinburgh Scotland	Business	1897	1902	Shared with Victor Daniel Horsburgh
15 Rutland Square Edinburgh Scotland	Business	1902
23 Rutland Square Edinburgh Scotland	Business	c. 1903	c. 1924	Shared with Victor Daniel Horsburgh

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The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this person (click on an item to view details):

Employers2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
Wardrop & Anderson	200078	In year 1890	c. 1894	Apprentice
Wardrop & Anderson	200078	c. 1894	In year 1896	Assistant

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The following individuals were employed or trained by this person (click on an item to view details):

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
Alexander Garden Forgie	201082	1909/02/07	In year 1914	Apprentice
Charles Edward Tweedie (junior)	203746	After 1918	Before 1921	Assistant	Latterly Principal Draughtsman
James Alexander Mawson Baxter	200138	Before 1911	In year 1923	Manager
J Simpson Fyfe	207358	Early 1910s	Late 1912s	Assistant
James Alexander Mawson Baxter	200138	In year 1900	Before 1911	Draughtsman	Became head draughtsman latterly
John Ross McKay	202350	In year 1903	In year 1905	Assistant
James Henderson	207663	In year 1908	In year 1913	Apprentice
Alexander Garden Forgie	201082	In year 1914	In year 1919	Assistant	With the exception of war service, 1915-1919
John Thomas Galletly	201295	c. 1901	c. 1901	Junior Assistant

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The following individuals proposed this person for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

Proposer	Proposer Link	Date Proposed	Notes
Harold Ogle Tarbolton	100213	1907/03/04	for Fellowship
(Sir) Robert Stodart Lorimer	200052	1907/03/04	for Fellowship
Alexander Hunter Crawford	200056	1907/03/04	for Fellowship

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This person proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Person	Date Proposed	Notes
Thomas Aikman Swan	1910/12/05	for Associateship
George Mackie Watson	1911/07/20	for Licentiateship
James Alexander Mawson Baxter	1912/03/04	for Associateship
Victor Daniel Horsburgh	1912/12/02	for Fellowship
J Simpson Fyfe	Mid 1916s	for Associateship
Alec Nisbet	1920/03/01	for Associateship
Alexander Garden Forgie	Early 1920s	for Associateship
John Ross McKay	Mid 1920s	for Associateship

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	City or County	Country	Notes
Dunlappie	In year 1898	Edzell	Angus	Scotland	Design only, not mentioned in RIBA nomination papers
The Elgin Arms Hotel	In year 1899	Limekilns	Fife	Scotland
Apperley Dene	In year 1900	Stocksfield	Northumberland	England	Additions (Â£5,000)
Darnaway Castle	In year 1900		Morayshire	Scotland	Alterations including Dutch garden, gatepiers and interior works, restoration of Randolph's Hall
Two double villas	In year 1901	Colinton	Edinburgh	Scotland
Newborough Hall	In year 1902	Hexham	Northumberland	England	Alterations, remodelling and new powerhouse in the garden (Â£10,000)
Kinfauns Castle	In year 1902	Kinfauns	Perthshire	Scotland	Alterations, new stair, redecoration, walled garden, gatepiers, etc (Â£21,000)
Hillside	In year 1902	Corstorphine	Edinburgh	Scotland
Tofthill Farmhouse	In year 1904	Kinfauns	Perthshire	Scotland
Kinfauns Castle, East Lodge	In year 1904	Kinfauns	Perthshire	Scotland	small addition
Braehead House	In year 1905	St Boswells	Roxburghshire	Scotland
23 Rutland Square	In year 1905		Edinburgh	Scotland	Raised by one storey
17, 18 Rutland Square	In year 1907		Edinburgh	Scotland	Alterations, new top floor
Hindley House	In year 1907	Stocksfield	Northumberland	England
Hindley Hall	In year 1907	Stocksfield	Northumberland	England

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Date	Publisher
Scottish Biographies	1938	E J Thurston (pub.)
Who's Who in Architecture	1914
Post Office Directories

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
RIBA Journal	1952/04	*	Obituary p230
Builder	1951/11/23	*
RIAS Quarterly	1952/02	87	p43
The Times	1951/11/15		p1 - deaths

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Notes
RIBA Biographical Files	British Architectural Library, RIBA	100004
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005	F v18 p77 no1212 (microfilm reel 12)
Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material	Professor David M Walker personal archive	100041	Personal recollections of Hew Lorimer and Alexander Dunbar
Francis Deas Notes by Simon Green	DMW Archive	100147
NMRS Photographic Archive	National Monuments Record of Scotland/NMRS, RCAHMS	200159	Pencil portrait by J H Lorimer at Kellie, copied by NMRS. Acc No 2001/17

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

RIBA Proposers

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

RIBA Proposals

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

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