The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Deering, Samuel
Deering, Samuel, J. P., Assistant Agent-General for South Australia, son of the late William Deering, of Gravesend, Kent, was born at Andover, Hants, on Oct. 11th, 1835. He was clerk in the Census Office, London, in 1851, and emigrated to South Australia, arriving at Adelaide on Sept. 1st, 1853. He has held the following appointments under the South Australian Government: clerk in the Audit Office, 1855; chief clerk, 1859; clerk of Executive Council, 1863; aide-de-camp to Sir D. Daly, Governor-in-Chief, 1867; captain Volunteer Military Staff, 1867; aide-de-camp to the Right Hon. Sir James Fergusson, Bart., Governor of South Australia, 1869; also clerk to the Court of Appeals, Jan. 1869; resigned the foregoing appointments on being made Secretary to the Attorney-General, July 1869; secretary to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Nov. 1870; a magistrate of the Province, Feb. 1874; a commissioner in London for taking affidavits in the Supreme Court of South Australia, August 1874 ; and was appointed Assistant Agent-General and Assistant Emigration Agent in London in August 1874. Mr. Deering acted as Secretary to the Adelaide Commission for the Melbourne Exhibition of 1866-7, and for the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867. He was a member of the Commission in London for the Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition of 1887, and was acting Agent-General for South Australia from June 1891 to Feb. 1892, whilst Sir Arthur Blyth was disabled by illness and pending the arrival of Sir John Bray, after the former's death.