Editing Alfred Deakin (section)

===Illness and death===
The final years of Deakin's political career coincided with the early stages of a degenerative neurological condition, with memory loss as the primary feature. In his personal diaries, he meticulously documented his loss of function and increasing anguish at his decline.{{sfn|Brett|2017|pp=402–404}} Other health records suggest he also suffered from chronic [[hypertension]].{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=413}} He had hoped that his symptoms were due to stress and leaving politics would aid his recovery, but instead found that "when I stepped out of Parliament in some mysterious fashion all my memories commenced to die or disappear".{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=416}} Contemporary doctors were unable to give him a clear diagnosis, other than a 1913 opinion of "[[neurasthenia|hyperneurasthenia]]".{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=413}} Later writers have suggested [[vascular dementia]], [[early-onset Alzheimer's disease]], [[neurosyphilis]], and [[Vitamin B12 deficiency|Vitamin B<sub>12</sub> deficiency]] from vegetarianism as possible causes of his illness.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n4280/pdf/05_coleman.pdf|title=Six Problems in the Biography of Alfred Deakin|first=William|last=Coleman|publisher=Australian National University|journal=Agenda: A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform|year=2018|volume=24|issue=1|pages=85–87}}</ref>
[[File:Alfred Deakin's Gravesite.jpg|thumb|233x233px|Graves of Alfred and Pattie Deakin at St Kilda Cemetery]]
In October 1914, Deakin wrote that he had "no continuity of memory or argument" and relied upon "impressions that fade or are forgotten in a few minutes and often in a few seconds".{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=417}} In November 1915, he wrote that he could remember what he had read for only a few hours and that "no collapse could be ghastlier". The following month, he wrote that "I have now become a mere juggler with myself [...] my helpless attempts to read the riddle of my mind and thought must be frankly abandoned".{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=421}} At her urging, Deakin and his wife left Australia in September 1916 to seek advice from specialists in England and the United States, and also to visit their daughter [[Vera Deakin|Vera]] in London.{{sfn|Brett|2017|p=422}} They returned to Australia in early 1917, after which he was generally confined to his home in South Yarra and only saw family members.{{sfn|Brett|2017|pp=423–424}}

[[File:Alfred Deakin funeral procession 01 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Deakin's funeral procession leaving Parliament House, Melbourne]]
Deakin died at his home on 7 October 1919, aged 63. His official cause of death was given as [[meningoencephalitis]].<ref name=adb/> He was granted a [[state funeral]] at Queen's Hall in Parliament House, Melbourne, after a period [[lying in state]].{{sfn|Brett|2017|pp=424–425}} He was interred next to his parents in the non-denominational section of [[St Kilda Cemetery]], joined by his widow Pattie following her death in 1934.<ref name=foskcdeakin>{{Cite web |title= The Visionary: Alfred Deakin (1856–1919) |publisher   = [[Friends of St Kilda Cemetery]] |work        = St Kilda Biographies |url         = http://www.foskc.org/deakin.htm |access-date  = 2 January 2014 |url-status     = dead |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120321091232/http://www.foskc.org/deakin.htm |archive-date = 21 March 2012 |df          = dmy-all}}</ref>