diff --git a/_includes/recline-deps.html b/_includes/recline-deps.html
index 84d43041..87705ccc 100644
--- a/_includes/recline-deps.html
+++ b/_includes/recline-deps.html
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
   <!-- 3rd party JS libraries -->
   <script type="text/javascript" src="{{page.root}}vendor/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="{{page.root}}vendor/underscore/1.4.2/underscore.js"></script>
-  <script type="text/javascript" src="{{page.root}}vendor/underscore.deferred/0.4.0/underscore.deferred.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="{{page.root}}vendor/backbone/0.9.2/backbone.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="{{page.root}}vendor/mustache/0.5.0-dev/mustache.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="{{page.root}}vendor/bootstrap/2.0.2/bootstrap.js"></script>
diff --git a/src/backend.ckan.js b/src/backend.ckan.js
index dafe6ecd..62fc91e7 100644
--- a/src/backend.ckan.js
+++ b/src/backend.ckan.js
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.Ckan = this.recline.Backend.Ckan || {};
 
   my.__type__ = 'ckan';
 
+  // private - use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
+  var Deferred = _.isUndefined(this.jQuery) ? _.Deferred : jQuery.Deferred;
+
   // Default CKAN API endpoint used for requests (you can change this but it will affect every request!)
   //
   // DEPRECATION: this will be removed in v0.7. Please set endpoint attribute on dataset instead
@@ -41,7 +44,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.Ckan = this.recline.Backend.Ckan || {};
       dataset.id = out.resource_id;
       var wrapper = my.DataStore(out.endpoint);
     }
-    var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd = new Deferred();
     var jqxhr = wrapper.search({resource_id: dataset.id, limit: 0});
     jqxhr.done(function(results) {
       // map ckan types to our usual types ...
@@ -84,7 +87,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.Ckan = this.recline.Backend.Ckan || {};
       var wrapper = my.DataStore(out.endpoint);
     }
     var actualQuery = my._normalizeQuery(queryObj, dataset);
-    var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd = new Deferred();
     var jqxhr = wrapper.search(actualQuery);
     jqxhr.done(function(results) {
       var out = {
diff --git a/src/backend.couchdb.js b/src/backend.couchdb.js
index 8c2c9ad9..994cfc9b 100755
--- a/src/backend.couchdb.js
+++ b/src/backend.couchdb.js
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.CouchDB = this.recline.Backend.CouchDB || {};
 (function($, my) {  
 my.__type__ = 'couchdb';
 
+// use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
+var Deferred = _.isUndefined(this.jQuery) ? _.Deferred : jQuery.Deferred;
+
   // ## CouchDB Wrapper
   //
   // Connecting to [CouchDB] (http://www.couchdb.apache.org/) endpoints.
@@ -197,7 +200,7 @@ my.__type__ = 'couchdb';
     var db_url    = dataset.db_url;
     var view_url  = dataset.view_url;
     var cdb       = new my.CouchDBWrapper(db_url, view_url);
-    var dfd       = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd       = new Deferred();
 
     // if 'doc' attribute is present, return schema of that
     // else return schema of 'value' attribute which contains
@@ -239,7 +242,7 @@ my.__type__ = 'couchdb';
 //
 //
 my.save = function (changes, dataset) {
-  var dfd       = new _.Deferred();
+  var dfd       = new Deferred();
   var total     = changes.creates.length + changes.updates.length + changes.deletes.length;  
   var results   = {'done': [], 'fail': [] };
 
@@ -280,7 +283,7 @@ my.save = function (changes, dataset) {
 // @param {Object} recline.Dataset instance
 // @param {Object} recline.Query instance.
 my.query = function(queryObj, dataset) {
-  var dfd           = new _.Deferred();
+  var dfd           = new Deferred();
   var db_url        = dataset.db_url;
   var view_url      = dataset.view_url;
   var query_options = dataset.query_options;
@@ -475,7 +478,7 @@ function randomId(length, chars) {
 }
      
 _createDocument  = function (new_doc, dataset) {
-  var dfd      = new _.Deferred();
+  var dfd      = new Deferred();
   var db_url   = dataset.db_url;
   var view_url = dataset.view_url;
   var _id      = new_doc['id'];
@@ -497,7 +500,7 @@ _createDocument  = function (new_doc, dataset) {
 };
 
 _updateDocument = function (new_doc, dataset) {
-  var dfd      = new _.Deferred();
+  var dfd      = new Deferred();
   var db_url   = dataset.db_url;
   var view_url = dataset.view_url;
   var _id      = new_doc['id'];
@@ -527,7 +530,7 @@ _updateDocument = function (new_doc, dataset) {
 };
 
 _deleteDocument = function (del_doc, dataset) {
-  var dfd      = new _.Deferred();
+  var dfd      = new Deferred();
   var db_url   = dataset.db_url;
   var view_url = dataset.view_url;
   var _id      = del_doc['id'];
diff --git a/src/backend.csv.js b/src/backend.csv.js
index 454015f0..aacfc5e9 100644
--- a/src/backend.csv.js
+++ b/src/backend.csv.js
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.CSV = this.recline.Backend.CSV || {};
 (function(my) {
   my.__type__ = 'csv';
 
+  // use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
+  var Deferred = _.isUndefined(this.jQuery) ? _.Deferred : jQuery.Deferred;
+
   // ## fetch
   //
   // fetch supports 3 options depending on the attribute provided on the dataset argument
@@ -24,7 +27,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.CSV = this.recline.Backend.CSV || {};
   // }
   // </pre>
   my.fetch = function(dataset) {
-    var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd = new Deferred();
     if (dataset.file) {
       var reader = new FileReader();
       var encoding = dataset.encoding || 'UTF-8';
diff --git a/src/backend.dataproxy.js b/src/backend.dataproxy.js
index b8f17826..44db50cf 100644
--- a/src/backend.dataproxy.js
+++ b/src/backend.dataproxy.js
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ this.recline.Backend.DataProxy = this.recline.Backend.DataProxy || {};
   // Needed because use JSONP so do not receive e.g. 500 errors 
   my.timeout = 5000;
 
+  
+  // use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
+  var Deferred = _.isUndefined(this.jQuery) ? _.Deferred : jQuery.Deferred;
+
   // ## load
   //
   // Load data from a URL via the [DataProxy](http://github.com/okfn/dataproxy).
@@ -26,7 +30,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.DataProxy = this.recline.Backend.DataProxy || {};
       data: data,
       dataType: 'jsonp'
     });
-    var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd = new Deferred();
     _wrapInTimeout(jqxhr).done(function(results) {
       if (results.error) {
         dfd.reject(results.error);
@@ -50,7 +54,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.DataProxy = this.recline.Backend.DataProxy || {};
   // Many of backends use JSONP and so will not get error messages and this is
   // a crude way to catch those errors.
   var _wrapInTimeout = function(ourFunction) {
-    var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd = new Deferred();
     var timer = setTimeout(function() {
       dfd.reject({
         message: 'Request Error: Backend did not respond after ' + (my.timeout / 1000) + ' seconds'
diff --git a/src/backend.elasticsearch.js b/src/backend.elasticsearch.js
index 56075a3c..82ba52de 100644
--- a/src/backend.elasticsearch.js
+++ b/src/backend.elasticsearch.js
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch = this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch || {};
 (function($, my) {
   my.__type__ = 'elasticsearch';
 
+  // use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
+  var Deferred = _.isUndefined(this.jQuery) ? _.Deferred : jQuery.Deferred;
+
   // ## ElasticSearch Wrapper
   //
   // A simple JS wrapper around an [ElasticSearch](http://www.elasticsearch.org/) endpoints.
@@ -179,7 +182,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch = this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch || {};
   // ### fetch
   my.fetch = function(dataset) {
     var es = new my.Wrapper(dataset.url, my.esOptions);
-    var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd = new Deferred();
     es.mapping().done(function(schema) {
 
       if (!schema){
@@ -207,7 +210,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch = this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch || {};
   my.save = function(changes, dataset) {
     var es = new my.Wrapper(dataset.url, my.esOptions);
     if (changes.creates.length + changes.updates.length + changes.deletes.length > 1) {
-      var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+      var dfd = new Deferred();
       msg = 'Saving more than one item at a time not yet supported';
       alert(msg);
       dfd.reject(msg);
@@ -225,7 +228,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch = this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch || {};
 
   // ### query
   my.query = function(queryObj, dataset) {
-    var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd = new Deferred();
     var es = new my.Wrapper(dataset.url, my.esOptions);
     var jqxhr = es.query(queryObj);
     jqxhr.done(function(results) {
diff --git a/src/backend.gdocs.js b/src/backend.gdocs.js
index 3f1812a8..4d18aa9b 100644
--- a/src/backend.gdocs.js
+++ b/src/backend.gdocs.js
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.GDocs = this.recline.Backend.GDocs || {};
 (function(my) {
   my.__type__ = 'gdocs';
 
+  // use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
+  var Deferred = _.isUndefined(this.jQuery) ? _.Deferred : jQuery.Deferred;
+
   // ## Google spreadsheet backend
   // 
   // Fetch data from a Google Docs spreadsheet.
@@ -29,13 +32,13 @@ this.recline.Backend.GDocs = this.recline.Backend.GDocs || {};
   // * fields: array of Field objects
   // * records: array of objects for each row
   my.fetch = function(dataset) {
-    var dfd  = new _.Deferred(); 
+    var dfd  = new Deferred(); 
     var urls = my.getGDocsAPIUrls(dataset.url);
 
     // TODO cover it with tests
     // get the spreadsheet title
     (function () {
-      var titleDfd = new _.Deferred();
+      var titleDfd = new Deferred();
 
       jQuery.getJSON(urls.spreadsheet, function (d) {
           titleDfd.resolve({
diff --git a/src/backend.solr.js b/src/backend.solr.js
index 51b4ab71..36e465f0 100644
--- a/src/backend.solr.js
+++ b/src/backend.solr.js
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.Solr = this.recline.Backend.Solr || {};
 (function($, my) {
   my.__type__ = 'solr';
 
+  // use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
+  var Deferred = _.isUndefined(this.jQuery) ? _.Deferred : jQuery.Deferred;
+
   // ### fetch
   //
   // dataset must have a solr or url attribute pointing to solr endpoint
@@ -18,7 +21,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.Solr = this.recline.Backend.Solr || {};
       dataType: 'jsonp',
       jsonp: 'json.wrf'
     });
-    var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd = new Deferred();
     jqxhr.done(function(results) {
       // if we get 0 results we cannot get fields
       var fields = []
@@ -51,7 +54,7 @@ this.recline.Backend.Solr = this.recline.Backend.Solr || {};
       dataType: 'jsonp',
       jsonp: 'json.wrf'
     });
-    var dfd = new _.Deferred();
+    var dfd = new Deferred();
     jqxhr.done(function(results) {
       var out = {
         total: results.response.numFound,
diff --git a/src/model.js b/src/model.js
index c279b655..2f405762 100644
--- a/src/model.js
+++ b/src/model.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ this.recline.Model = this.recline.Model || {};
 
 (function(my) {
 
-// private - use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
+// use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
 var Deferred = _.isUndefined(this.jQuery) ? _.Deferred : jQuery.Deferred;
 
 // ## <a id="dataset">Dataset</a>
diff --git a/test/index.html b/test/index.html
index 7a102b4f..e9152613 100644
--- a/test/index.html
+++ b/test/index.html
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 
   <script type="text/javascript" src="../vendor/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="../vendor/underscore/1.4.2/underscore.js"></script>
-  <script type="text/javascript" src="../vendor/underscore.deferred/0.4.0/underscore.deferred.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="../vendor/backbone/0.9.2/backbone.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="../vendor/moment/1.6.2/moment.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="../vendor/mustache/0.5.0-dev/mustache.js"></script>