Richard Deeley

Richard Mountford Deeley (1855–1944) was a British locomotive engineer who served as Locomotive Superintendent of the Midland Railway at Derby from 1903 until his resignation in 1909. He inherited the celebrated Midland Compound 4-4-0 from his predecessor Samuel Waite Johnson and developed it into the form used in numbers by the LMS, perhaps the most successful British compound design.

Born at Chester on 31 January 1855, Deeley was apprenticed at Derby in 1875 and rose through the company. As Inspector of Boilers and afterwards Works Manager he built up the technical foundations of the Compound, modifying Johnson's original Smith design with simplified valve gear. Deeley resigned in 1909 after disagreements with the management over the relative authority of the Locomotive Superintendent and the General Manager, and was succeeded by Henry Fowler. He worked in metallurgy and lubrication research and died at Bromley, Kent on 19 August 1944.