DEAN, RICHARD (1727?–1778), author, born at Kirkby-in-Craven, Yorkshire, about 1727, was the first curate of Royton Chapel and curate of Middleton, both near Manchester. He was also master of the Middleton grammar school. He wrote ‘An Essay on the Future Life of Brutes, introduced with Observations upon Evil, its Nature and Origin’ (Manchester, 1767, 12mo, 2 vols.), wherein he argued for the reasonableness of believing in the future existence of the lower animals. His conclusions were controverted by James Rothwell, master of the Blackrod grammar school, in ‘A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Dean of Middleton, occasioned by reading his Essay on the Future Life of Brutes’ (1769, 8vo). Dean died at Middleton on 8 Feb. 1778.
[Sutton's Lancashire Authors, 1876, pp. 30, 155; Carlisle's Grammar Schools, 1818, i. 707.]