In 1858, Thomas Deakin, table cutlery manufacturer, advertised in Dix’s Birmingham directory.  The firm was in Union Lane, with Thomas Valentine Deakin and Henry Webster as partners.  Identifying Deakin is a challenge.  It may have been Thomas Deakin, a pen blade grinder, who was enumerated in the Census (1861) in Union Lane.  He died at Union Lane on 22 July 1869, aged 52, and was buried in the General Cemetery.  However, a better candidate may be Thomas Deakin, a table knife cutler, who in 1861 lived in Rockingham Street.  He had been born in Edinburgh, the son of John Deakin (a musician) and his wife, Mary.  Thomas was enumerated in the Census in 1841, 1851, and 1861, but only as Thomas Deakin (with no middle name).  Either way, the enterprise became insolvent and was soon dissolved (Sheffield Independent, 1 May, 10 April 1858).  Thomas Valentine Deakin died in Leeds in 1888, aged 68.