Henry Hugh Peter Deasy

Who was Henry Hugh Peter Deasy?

Henry Hugh Peter Deasy was an army officer, founder of the Deasy Motor Car Company and a writer. He was born in Dublin, only surviving son of Rickard Deasy and Monica O'Connor. His father was a highly successful politician and barrister who was elevated to the Bench and ended his career as a judge of the Court of Appeal.

He served as a British Army Captain, mostly in India, between 1888 and 1897, when he retired. He married Dolores Hickie, daughter of Colonel James Francis Hickie of Borrisokane, County Tipperary, and Lucila Larios de Tejeda of Castile, and had three children. Dolores was a sister of the prominent soldier and statesman Sir William Bernard Hickie.

After his army service he became one of the first westerners to write a detailed account of Tibet, covering his travels between 1897 and 1899. Consequently, he won The Royal Geographical Society Gold Medal in 1900 for surveying nearly 40,000 square miles of the Himalayas. He also provided photographs for a book by Percy W. Church.

Later, his interests turned to Motor Cars. In 1903 he helped promote the Rochet-Schneider Company by driving a car from London to Glasgow non-stop.