Frederic Boase
Modern English Biography (volume 1 of 4) A-H
DAVEY, Richard (youngest son of Wm. Davey of Redruth, Cornwall, solicitor, who d. 16 April 1849). b. Redruth 11 Dec. 1799; ed. at Tiverton and Univ. of Edin.; M.P. for West Cornwall 1857–68. d. Bochym near Helston 24 June 1884. I.L.N. xxxiii, 92, 94 (1858), portrait.
DAVIDS, Rev. Thomas William (only child of William Saunders Davids of Swansea, Congregational minister, who d. Dec. 1816). b. Swansea 11 Sep. 1816; minister of Congregational church, Lion walk, Colchester 3 Feb. 1841 to 1874; secretary of Essex congregational union 20 years; author of Annals of Evangelical Nonconformity in the county of Essex from the time of Wycliffe to the restoration 1863, and of a number of historical articles and reviews. (m. 1841 Louisa eld. dau. of Robert Winter of Clapham Common, London, solicitor, she was widely known by her Essay on Sunday schools 1847 and Sunday school hymn book, she d. Colchester 18 Nov. 1853 aged 37), he d. Forest Gate, Essex 11 April 1884. Congregational year book (1885) 187–8.
DAVIDSON, Rev. Alexander Dyce. b. Aberdeen 8 May 1807; ed. at Aberdeen Univ.; minister of the South ch. Aberdeen 3 Aug. 1832, of the West ch. 5 May 1836, of Free ch. Belmont st. 28 Jany. 1844, of a new Free ch. in Union st. 14 Feb. 1869 to death; author of Lectures on the book of Esther 1859; Lectures and sermons edited by F. Edmond 1872. d. Aberdeen 27 April 1872. Wylies’ Disruption Worthies (1881) 211–14.
DAVIDSON, Archibald (son of Rev. T. Davidson of the Tolbooth church, Edinburgh). b. 1805; ed. at high sch. Edin. and Univs. of Glasgow and St. Andrews; called to Scotch bar 1827; senior advocate depute 1846; sheriff of Kincardine 1847, of Aberdeen 10 Jany. 1848, of Edinburgh 10 Oct. 1865, of the Lothians and Peebles to Feb. 1886; arranged for publication Lord Cockburn’s Memorials of his time 1856. d. Edinburgh 27 March 1886.
DAVIDSON, Cuthbert. Entered Bengal army 1827; lieut. col. 49 Bengal N.I. 31 May 1857 to 1860; lieut. col. 51 Bengal N.I. 1860 to death; C.B. 18 May 1860. d. 2 Aug. 1862.
DAVIDSON, Duncan. b. 1800; M.P. for co. Cromarty 30 June 1826 to 24 July 1830 and 20 May 1831 to 3 Dec. 1832; lord lieutenant of co. Ross 18 Feb. 1879 to death; married five times. d. Edinburgh 18 Sep. 1881.
DAVIDSON, Ellis A. Author of Linear Drawing 1868; Drawing and design without instruments 1869; Elements of practical perspective 1870; Model drawing from solid forms 1871; Boy joiner and model maker 1874; House painting and graining 1875, 3 ed. 1880; Amateur house carpenter 1875 and many other books. d. 29 Clarendon gardens, Maida hill, London 9 March 1878.
DAVIDSON, George Henry. Music publisher at 19 Peters hill, Doctors Commons, London; published Universal Melodist 2 vols. 1847–9; Instrumental Gems 4 vols. 1851; Davidson’s Recitations and Comic songs 1854; sold his business to the Music publishing company limited for £20,000, 1860; author of The Thames and Thanet Guide 1838, 6 ed. 1850. d. 26 Clifton road, Peckham 4 July 1875 in 75 year.
DAVIDSON, Harriet (2 child of Hugh Miller the geologist 1802–56). b. Cromarty, Scotland 25 Nov. 1839; ed. at Edin. and London; author of Isabel Jardine’s History 1867; Christian Osborne’s Friends 1869; contributed poems and stories to the Adelaide newspapers and to Chambers’s Journal. (m. 1863 Rev. John Davidson, minister of Chalmer’s church, Adelaide, who d. 1881). d. Adelaide 23 Dec. 1883.
DAVIDSON, James (eld. son of James Davidson of Tower Hill, London, stationer). b. Tower Hill 15 Aug. 1793; lived at Secktor near Axminster, Devon 1822 to death; author of The British and Roman remains in the vicinity of Axminster 1833; History of Axminster church 1835; History of Newenham Abbey, Devon 1843; Axminster during the civil war 1851; A glossary to the obsolete and unused words and phrases of the Holy Scriptures in the authorised English version 1850; Bibliotheca Devoniensis, a catalogue of printed books relating to the county of Devon 1852 and Supplement 1862; Notes on the antiquities of Devonshire 1861. d. Secktor house, Axminster 29 Feb. 1864. G. P. R. Pulman’s book of the Axe (1875) 12, 47, 677.
DAVIDSON, John. b. Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire 29 March 1804; ed. at Marischal coll. Aberdeen; transcriber for the Spalding Club 20 years; arranged the Burgh records of Dundee 1865; wrote a number of pamphlets on various political subjects; a small vol. containing many poems and prose pieces by him was published at Aberdeen 1872. d. 28 Sep. 1871.
DAVIDSON, John. L.R.C.S. Edin. 1838; surgeon in the navy 29 July 1839; M.D. St. Andrews 1845; M.R.C.P. 1860; inspector general of hospitals 4 July 1866 to 26 Oct. 1874 when he retired; C.B. 13 March 1867. d. Bosworth lodge, Willesden lane, London 31 Jany. 1881 aged 63.
DAVIDSON, Thomas (son of Jonah Davidson of Oxnam Row farm near Jedburgh, shepherd). b. Oxnam Row 7 July 1838; entered Univ. of Edin. 1855; schoolmaster at Forres 1860–61, in Edinburgh 1861; licensed as a preacher in united presbyterian church 2 Feb. 1864; obtained second prize in rhetoric class for a poem on ‘Ariadne at Naxos’ 1859, one of his friends sent this poem to Thackeray who inserted it in Cornhill Mag. Dec. 1860; sent songs and short poems to the ‘Scotsman.’ d. Bankend, Jedburgh 29 April 1870. The life of a Scottish probationer, being a memoir of Thomas Davidson by James Brown (1878), portrait.
DAVIDSON, Thomas. b. Nottingham 28 Aug. 1828; went to Philadelphia 1832, ship builder there 1850–61; quartermaster in Philadelphia navy yard 1861, assistant naval constructor 1863, naval constructor 1866 to death; his greatest feat was the building in 70 days of the “Juanita” (1240 tons 7 guns) from the frame of a Florida frigate; executed the models and drawings for first large torpedo boats built in New York. d. Philadelphia 18 Feb. 1874.
DAVIDSON, Thomas. b. Edinburgh 17 May 1817; ed. in France, Italy and Switzerland; pupil of P. Delaroche and H. Vernet; matric. at Univ. of Edin. 1835; hon. sec. of Geol. Soc. 1858, Wollaston gold medallist 1865, Silurian medallist 1868; F.R.S. 11 June 1857, royal medallist 1870; author of British Fossil Brachiopoda 6 vols. and of the article ‘Brachiopoda’ in 9th ed. of Encyclopædia Britannica. d. 16 Oct. 1885. Proc. of Royal Soc. xxxix, 8–11 (1886).
DAVIE, James. Violinist and composer at Aberdeen; published The music of the church of Scotland 1841; Caledonian Repository 6 vols.; established the Aberdeen Choral Society which held a Musical Festival 1834; choir master in St. Andrew’s ch. Aberdeen about 1835. d. Aberdeen 19 Nov. 1857 aged 74. W. Anderson’s Precentors and musical professors (1876) 85–94.
DAVIES, Rev. Benjamin. b. Werne near St. Clears, Carmarthenshire 26 Feb. 1814; ed. at Baptist college, Bristol, Univ. of Glasgow, Trin. coll. Dublin and Leipzig; Ph.D. Leipzig 1838; pres. of Baptist coll. Stepney 1844–7; a professor in Mac Gill coll. Montreal 1847–57; professor of oriental and classical languages in Baptist coll. Regents park, London 1857; one of the revisers of the Old Testament; published translations of Gesenius’s Hebrew Grammar and Lexicon; the Paragraph Bible issued by Religious Tract Society was chiefly his work. d. Frome, Somerset 19 July 1875.
DAVIES, David. Ensign 62 foot 4 June 1812, lieut. 13 Feb. 1814 to 25 June 1816 when placed on h.p.; fired a pistol loaded with ball at Lord Palmerston (the sec. of state for war) at the War Office, London 8 April 1818, tried at the Old Bailey 1 May 1818 when acquitted on ground of insanity; confined in Bethlehem hospital, May 1818 to death. d. of apoplexy in Bethlehem hospital 30 Dec. 1861 aged 67.
DAVIES, Sir David (only son of Robert Davies of Llwyn, Cardiganshire). b. 1793; physician at Hampton; domestic phys. to William iv, 1830 to 1837, and to Queen Adelaide 1837 to 1849; K.C.H. June 1837; knighted by Queen Victoria at St. James’s palace 19 July 1837. d. Lucca 1 May 1865.
DAVIES, David Arthur Saunders. b. 9 June 1792; M.P. for Carmarthenshire 27 Dec. 1842 to death; chairman of Cardiganshire quarter sessions. d. United University club, 4 Pall Mall, East London 22 May 1857.
DAVIES, David Christopher. b. Oswestry 1827; a mining engineer 1852; visited Norway on business 9 times; F.G.S. 1872; contributed numerous papers to Geological Mag.; author of Christ for all the ages and other lay sermons 1871; Treatise on slate and slate quarrying 1878, 2 ed. 1880; Metalliferous minerals and mining, 2 ed. 1880; Treatise on earthy and other minerals and mining 1884. d. suddenly on board the steamer Angelo while returning from Norway to Hull 19 Sep. 1885. Quarterly Journal of Geol. Soc. xlii, 43 (1886).
DAVIES, Rev. Evan. b. Hengwm, Lledrod, county of Cardiganshire 1805; ordained at Wycliffe Congregational chapel, London as a missionary to the Chinese 1835; sent to Penang by London Missionary Soc. 1835, returned home 1839; superintendent of Boys’ Mission school at Walthamstow 1842–44; pastor at Richmond, Surrey 1844–57; author of China and her spiritual claims 1845; Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel Dyer 1846; Revivals in Wales 1859. d. Llanstephan near Carmarthen 18 June 1864.
DAVIES, Evan. Watchmaker at Pontypridd; known as Myfyr Morganwg, Arch-Druid of Wales, recognized head of the Druids who meet periodically around famous rocking stone at Pontypridd; published several works on Druidism which he argued was the true religion, and several others on Celtic mythology. d. Pontypridd 23 Feb. 1888 in 89 year.
DAVIES, Francis John (youngest son of Thomas Davies of New house, co. Hereford 1751–92, advocate general Calcutta). b. 1 May 1791; ensign 52 foot 3 Feb. 1808; captain Grenadier guards 30 April 1827 to 18 May 1841 when placed on h.p.; col. of 67 foot 15 Jany. 1858 to death; general 14 Jany. 1866. d. 8 Eaton place, London 4 Dec. 1874.
DAVIES, George. b. Wells 15 Dec. 1800; entered navy 23 June 1813; inspecting commander in coast guard of Banff district, July 1843, of Penzance district 3 July 1848 to 1 Jany. 1851; captain 1 Jany. 1851; saved the lives of more than 200 persons at shipwrecks; retired V.A. 29 May 1873; chief constable of Cambridgeshire, Nov. 1851 to death, and of Hunts. April 1857 to death. d. 10 Scrope terrace, Cambridge 24 Nov. 1876. O’Byrne’s Naval biog. dict. (1861) 281–2; I.L.N. xviii, 61–2 (1851).
DAVIES, Griffith (son of Owen Davies, farmer, who d. 21 March 1854 aged 93). b. parish of Llandwrog, Carnarvon 28 Dec. 1788; kept a school in London 1811; actuary to Guardian Assurance Co. 1823 to death; constructed many tables for the Reversionary Interest Soc. 1823; F.R.S. 16 June 1831; wrote 20 reports on the various Indian funds for the H.E.I.Co.; author of Key to Bonnycastle’s Trigonometry 1814; Tables of life contingencies containing the rates of mortality among the members of the Equitable Society 1825. d. 25 Duncan terrace, Islington, London 21 March 1855. Assurance Mag. July 1855 pp. 337–48; C. Walford’s Insurance Cyclopædia ii, 172–4; Pink’s Clerkenwell (1881) 705–8.
DAVIES, Henry. b. London 1782; M.R.C.S. 1803; served in army medical service; M.D. Aberdeen 26 Sep. 1823; L.R.C.P. 22 Dec. 1823; phys. to British Lying-in hospital; lecturer on midwifery at St. George’s hospital; edited M. Underwood’s Treatise on the diseases of children 1846; author of The young wife’s guide 1852. d. London 9 Jany. 1862.
DAVIES, Henry Thomas. Entered navy 3 March 1794; captain 19 Feb. 1814; retired captain 1 Oct. 1846; retired admiral 11 Feb. 1861. d. Bath 21 Feb. 1869 aged 91.
DAVIES, Herbert (son of Thomas Davies of London, physician 1792–1839). b. London 30 Sep. 1818; scholar of Gonville and Caius coll. Cam. 1838, migrated to Queen’s coll.; 31 wrangler 1842; B.A. 1842, M.B. 1843, M.D. 1848; fellow of Queen’s coll. 1844; assistant phys. to London hospital 5 Aug. 1845, phys. 1854–74; F.R.C.P. 1850; phys. to Bank of England; author of Lectures on the physical diagnosis of the diseases of the lungs and heart 1851, 2 ed. 1854, translated into German and Dutch; On the treatment of rheumatic fever in its acute stage exclusively by free blistering 1864. d. Hampstead 4 Jany. 1885. Medical Circular iii, 439 (1853), portrait.
DAVIES, Rev. James (2 son of Richard Banks of Kington, Herefordshire). b. Kington 20 May 1820; ed. at Repton and Lincoln coll. Ox., scholar; B.A. 1844, M.A. 1846; Inc. of Ch. Ch. Forest of Dean 1847–52; head master of Ludlow gr. sch. 1852–57; took name of Davies in lieu of Banks 1858; wrote majority of classical articles in Saturday Review many years; author of a remarkable essay on ‘Epigrams’ in Quarterly Review Jany. 1865; translated Hesiod, Theognis and Callimachus into prose for Bohn’s Classical library; wrote vols. on Hesiod and Theognis and on Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius for Collins’s Ancient Classics for English readers; revised several of Murray’s Guides for the press; author of a vol. of original verse entitled Nugæ 1854. d. Moor Court, Kington 11 March 1883.
DAVIES, Rev. John. Educ. at Queen’s coll. Cam., B.D. 1831, D.D. 1844; R. of Gateshead 1840 to death; hon. canon of Durham, Feb. 1853 to death; author of An estimate of the human mind, a philosophical inquiry into the legitimate application and extent of its leading faculties 1828; The ordinances of religion practically illustrated and applied 1832, and about 20 other works. d. Ilkley Wells, Yorkshire 21 Oct. 1861.
DAVIES, Lucy Clementina (youngest child of Leon Maurice called by courtesy Lord Leon Maurice Drummond de Melfort 1761–1826). b. Château of St. Germain near Paris 21 Nov. 1795; granted precedency of an Earl’s daughter by r.l. 30 Sep. 1853; author of Recollections of society in France and England 2 vols. 1872, a work which contains much of her family history. (m. 8 Sep. 1823 Francis Henry Davies a registrar of Court of Chancery, who d. 22 Oct. 1863 aged 72). d. 22 Palace gardens terrace, Kensington, London 27 April 1879.
DAVIES, Venerable Richard. V. of St. John’s, Brecknock 1804 to death; archdeacon of Brecknock 15 Feb. 1805 to death; canon of St. Davids 1805 to death. d. Residentiary house, St. David’s cathedral, Brecon 14 May 1859 aged 82.
DAVIES, Robert (eld. son of Peter Davies of York). b. York 19 Aug. 1793; solicitor at York 1814, town clerk 1827–48; F.S.A. 22 Dec. 1842; author or editor of The freeman’s roll of the city of York 1835; The Fawkes’s of York in the sixteenth century 1850; Notices of the mints and coinages at York 1854; The life of M. Rawdon, Camden Soc. 1863; A memoir of the York press 1868; Walks through the city of York 1880. d. The Mount, York 23 Aug. 1875.
DAVIES, Venerable Roland Robert. Educ. at Trin. coll. Dublin, B.A. 1827; archdeacon of Hobart Town, Tasmania 1855 to death. d. Ferndean, Hobart Town 13 Nov. 1880 aged 75.
DAVIES, Scrope Berdmore. Educ. at Eton 1796–99 and King’s coll. Cam., fellow 1805, senior fellow 1822 to death; B.A. 1806, M.A. 1809; remarkable for his dexterity at all athletic games especially cricket and tennis, competed with Lord Byron in swimming; intimate friend of Tom Moore and Lord Byron who when on his death bed sent him a ring; Lord Byron’s Parisina is dedicated to him; lived at Ostend 1836; a well known talker and diner out. d. 2 Rue Miromenil, Paris 24 May 1852. T. C. Grattan’s Beaten Paths (1862) ii, 146–70.
DAVIES, Venerable Thomas Hart Francis Penrose. Educ. at Trin. hall, Cam., B.A. 1837, M.A. 1841; C. of Holbrooke, Suffolk 1837–39; C. of Knaresborough 1839–41; P.C. of Trinity, Nottingham 1841–51; archdeacon of Melbourne, Australia 1851–53; V. of Ch. Ch. Ramsgate 1853 to death. d. Ramsgate 5 Jany. 1873 aged 76. Kent Coast Times 9 Jany. 1873 pp. 2, 3.
DAVIES, Thomas Stephens. b. 1794; F.R.S. Edin. 1831; F.S.A. 19 March 1840; professor of mathematics at R.M.A. Woolwich 1834 to death; edited many mathematical works. d. Broomhall cottage, Shooter’s hill, Kent 6 Jany. 1851. Westminster Review lv, 70–83 (1851); Mechanics’ Mag. 11 Jany. 1851 pp. 33–5; The Expositor i, 284 (1851), portrait.
DAVIES, William Edmund. b. King’s Cross, London 1819; employed by Cubitt and Co. as a carpenter; originated the betting list system 1846, hung up first of his betting lists at Salisbury Arms, Durham st. Strand, betting lists were declared illegal by act of parliament 20 Aug. 1853; lost £100,000 over the Derby 1852 when Daniel O’Rourke won, and £48,000 over the Derby 1853 when West Australian won; became known as the Leviathan; retired at end of racing season 1857. d. at 18 Gloucester place, Brighton 4 Oct. 1879. Rice’s History of the Turf ii, 271–80 (1879); Sporting Review, Jany. 1859 pp. 39–42; Sporting Times 30 May 1885 p. 2.
Note.—By his will he left property in railway shares valued at £60,000 to the Brighton corporation subject to the payment of certain annuities. His widow gave notice to dispute the will, but on 21 Jany. 1880 an arrangement was made by which the greater part of the property came to the corporation on her death. Preston park, Brighton which cost £50,000 was purchased with this money and opened 8 Nov. 1884.
DAVIS, Charles. b. near Hertford 15 Jany. 1788; whipper-in to his father who hunted the King’s harriers 1800 and Pistol boy to George iii; whipper-in to Mr. Sharpe’s staghounds 1812; huntsman to the Queen 1821–66; presented with a testimonial in London 5 Feb. 1859, which testimonial he left to the Queen. d. Royal Kennels, Ascot 26 Oct. 1866. bur. Sunninghill churchyard 2 Nov. His horse Comus, a gift from the Prince of Wales, was shot by his last wish and one ear of the horse in a small box was placed in his grave. Lord W. P. Lennox’s Celebrities I have known, second series ii, 284–305; J. N. Fitt’s Covert side sketches (1878) 274–78; Sporting Review lx, 418–20 (1866), lvi, 402–8 (1866); Baily’s Mag. xii, 254, 326–36 (1867); The Sportsman n.s. ii, 277 (1837), portrait; I.L.N. xxxiv, 164, 165 (1859), portrait.
DAVIS, Right Rev. Charles Henry. b. Usk, co. Monmouth 18 May 1815; professed at St. Gregory’s, Downside near Bath 1834; a member of Benedictine order 1833; ordained priest Nov. 1840; pastor of Downside 1844–48; the first R.C. bishop of Maitland, Australia 1848 to death, consecrated 25 Feb. 1848; coadjutor of the archbishop of the diocese. d. Sydney 17 May 1854.
DAVIS, Right Rev. Daniel Gateward (son of Rev. Wm. Davis). b. Island of St. Christopher, West Indies 1788; ed. at Reading and Pemb. coll. Ox.; B.A. 1814, M.A. 1823, D.D. 1842; went to the West Indies; R. of St. Paul’s, Charleston, Nevis; R. of St. George’s, Basseterre, St. Christophers; rural dean; archdeacon of Antigua 1837; visited England 1842; bishop of Antigua 21 Aug. 1842 to death, consecrated in Westminster Abbey 24 Aug. d. 3 Bryanston st. Portman sq. London 25 Oct. 1857.
DAVIS, Edward Dean. b. near Bath 1806; manager of Taunton theatre 1835; travelled the Devonshire circuit with a company 1843–46; lessee of T.R. Newcastle 1846–70; lessee of Lyceum theatre, Sunderland 1854, theatre was entirely destroyed by fire 23 Dec. 1855, theatre was reopened 29 Sep. 1856 when Henry Irving made his first appearance on the stage, lessee of the theatre again 1870–76. d. Eldon square, Newcastle 19 Feb. 1887.
DAVIS, George Lenox. Ensign 9 foot 15 Sep. 1808, lieut. col. 19 Dec. 1845 to 2 April 1852; inspecting field officer of Liverpool recruiting district 2 April 1852 to death; C.B. 27 June 1846. d. Galway 14 April 1852.
DAVIS, Hart. Commissioner of Excise 11 Aug. 1824, deputy chairman Sep. 1837 to 6 Jany. 1849; F.R.S. 20 May 1841. d. Bere hill house, Whitchurch 17 June 1854.
DAVIS, Henry George (son of Mr. Davis, master of St. Paul’s parochial schools, Knightsbridge, London). b. 4 Mills Buildings, Knightsbridge 14 Aug. 1830; clerk in a circulating library; contributed a series of articles on ‘Our local associations’ to West Middlesex Advertiser; prepared for the press Memorials of the hamlet of Knightsbridge with notices of its immediate neighbourhood, ed. by his brother C. Davis 1859; left in manuscript two unfinished works ‘Pimlico’ and ‘Recollections of Piccadilly’; wrote many antiquarian papers in Notes and Queries. d. St. Paul’s parochial school, Wilton place, Belgravia 30 Dec. 1857.
DAVIS, James Edward (son of Aaron Wall Davis, M.D. of Presteign, Radnorshire). b. 1817; barrister M.T. 25 Nov. 1842; revising barrister 1854; reporter for Law Journal Reports in Court of Exchequer 1855–64; stipendiary magistrate for Stoke-upon-Trent 1864–70, for Sheffield 1870–74; legal adviser to comrs. of Metropolitan Police 1874 to death; author of Prize essay on the laws for the protection of women 1854; Practice and evidence in the county courts 1855, 6 ed. 1887; The Criminal law consolidation statutes 1861; A manual of the law of registration and election 1868, 2 ed. 1879. d. suddenly at 4 Whitehall place, London 12 July 1887 in 70 year. Law Journal xxii, 397, 406, 426 (1887).
DAVIS, John Edward (son of Henry Davis, commander R.N.) b. 9 Aug. 1815; entered navy 5 July 1828; Second master in the Terror in Antarctic expedition 1839–43; surveyor to North Atlantic telegraph expedition in the Fox 1862; retired captain 9 Aug. 1870; naval assistant to the Hydrographer; author with his son of the Azimuth Tables; invented an improved sextant; drew the charts for Antarctic expedition 1839–43; the illustrations in Narrative of Sir James Clark Ross 1847 are from his drawings; F.R.G.S. d. Douglas house, Maze hill, Greenwich 30 Jany. 1877.
DAVIS, John Ford. b. Bath 1773; ed. in London and Edin.; M.D. Edin. 24 June 1797; L.R.C.P. 30 Sep. 1808; phys. to general hospital, Bath 1817–34; author of An inquiry into the symptoms and treatment of Carditis, or inflammation of the heart 1808. d. Bath 1 Jany. 1864.
DAVIS, John Philip, called Pope Davis. Exhibited 33 pictures at the R.A., 17 at B.I. and 59 at Suffolk st. gallery 1811–57; painted at Rome 1824 a large picture of the ‘Talbot family receiving the benediction of the Pope’ (hence his cognomen ‘Pope Davis’); awarded a premium of £50 by directors of British Institution 1825; author of Facts of vital importance relative to the embellishment of the Houses of Parliament 1843; The Royal Academy and the National Gallery, What is the state of these institutions? 1858; Thoughts on great painters 1866. d. 67 Great Russell st. Bloomsbury, London 28 Sep. 1862 in 79 year.
DAVIS, Joseph Barnard. b. York 13 June 1801; went as a surgeon in a whaling ship to the Arctic seas 1820; L.S.A. 1823, M.R.C.S. 1843; surgeon at Shelton Hanley, Staffs. to death; M.D. St. Andrews 1862; collected a museum of skulls and skeletons of various races, larger than all the collections in British public museums, which he sold to Royal college of Surgeons 1880; F.S.A. 21 Dec. 1854; F.R.S. 4 June 1868; author of Popular manual of the art of preserving health 1836; Thesaurus Craniorum 2 vols. 1867–75; published with John Thurnam, M.D., Crania Britannica, or delineations of the skulls of the early inhabitants of the British Islands 1856–65. d. Hanley 19 May 1881. Nature 26 May 1881.
DAVIS, Nathan. Lived in an old Moorish palace 10 miles from Tunis many years; edited the Hebrew Christian Magazine 1852; became a Nonconformist minister; engaged excavating at Carthage and Utica for the British Museum 1856–58, chief antiquities he discovered were Roman mosaic pavements; author of Tunis, or selections from a journal during a residence in that Regency 1841; Evenings in my tent 2 vols. 1854; Carthage and her remains 1861; Ruined cities within Numidian and Carthaginian territories 1862. d. Florence 6 Jany. 1882. Antiquarian Mag. i, 152 (1882); Edwards’s Lives of the founders of the British Museum (1870) 666–8.
DAVIS, Richard Barrett (son of Mr. Davis, huntsman to the royal harriers). b. Watford, Herts. 1782; animal painter; exhibited 70 pictures at R.A., 57 at B.I. and 141 at Suffolk st. gallery 1802–53; animal painter to William iv, 1831. d. 9 Bedford place, Kensington, London 13 March 1854.
DAVIS, William. Founded a free school at Gower’s walk, Whitechapel, London 1807; one of founders of National Society 1811 and of Society for promoting enlargement, building and repairing of churches and chapels 1818. d. 19 Nov. 1854 aged 88.
DAVIS, William. b. Dublin 1812; portrait painter at Liverpool; professor of painting at Liverpool academy; exhibited 16 landscapes at the R.A. 1851–72. d. London 22 April 1873.
DAVISON, Rev. Edward (son of Rev. Edward Davison 1760–1839, Inc. of St. Nicholas, Durham). Matric. from C.C. coll. Ox. 25 Nov. 1803 aged 15, B.A. 1807, M.A. 1810; fellow of Univ. coll. 1807–16; R. of Harlington, Middlesex 1822–56; P.C. of St. Nicholas, Durham 1825–56; author of Tentamen Theologicum, or an attempt to assist the young clergyman of the Church of England in the choice of a subject for his sermon on any Sunday throughout the year by E. D. 1850, and of several sets of lectures and sermons. d. Durham 22 May 1863.
DAVISON, Sir Henry (4 son of Thomas Davison of St. Bride’s, Fleet st. London). Matric. from Trin. coll. Ox. 23 Oct. 1823 aged 18, scholar 1824, B.A. 1829, M.A. 1834; barrister I.T. 6 May 1834; puisne judge of supreme court of Madras 16 March 1857, chief justice 11 March 1859 to death; knighted by the Queen at Windsor castle 28 Nov. 1856; published with H. Merivale Reports in the Queen’s Bench and upon Writs of Error 1844. d. Ootacamund on the Neilgherry hills, Madras 3 Nov. 1860.
DAVISON, James William. b. London 5 Oct. 1813; ed. at Univ. coll. sch. and Royal Acad. of Music; wrote pianoforte music for Bohn’s Harmonist; edited the Musical World to death; musical critic of the Times 1850–78; wrote for the Saturday Review and Graphic; contributed to Grove’s Dictionary of music and musicians; author of An essay on the works of Frederic Chopin 1849. (m. 1860 Arabella Goddard the pianist). d. York hotel, Margate 24 March 1885. bur. Brompton cemetery, London 28 March. Theatre v, 230–4, 247–9 (1885); Musical Standard 4 April 1885 pp. 212–3; London Figaro 4 April 1885 p. 11, portrait.
DAVISON, John Robert (2 son of Rev. Edward Davison, R. of Harlington, Middlesex, who d. 1863). b. Church st. Durham 15 April 1826; ed. at Houghton and Durham gr. schs. and C.C. coll. Ox., B.A. 1845, M.A. 1847; barrister M.T. 2 Nov. 1849; Q.C. 9 Jany. 1866; chairman of Durham quarter sessions 1868; M.P. for city of Durham, Nov. 1868 to death; advocate general 28 Dec. 1870 to death; P.C. 8 Feb. 1871. d. The Auberies near Sudbury 15 April 1871. Law Journal vi, 282–3, 287–8 (1871); I.L.N. lviii, 427, 444 (1871), portrait, lix, 98 (1871).
DAVISON, Joseph (son of Thomas Davison of Sedgefield, Durham). Solicitor at Durham 1831; deputy registrar in Episcopal registry for wills Durham 1835–57; district registrar of Court of Probate 1857 to death; clerk and deputy steward of the Halmote Court at Durham (through which all transfers of copyhold property in co. Durham pass) 25 Nov. 1850 to death; held the office of Cursitor in the Palatinate Chancery Court 25 Jany. 1836 to death when office was abolished and documents were transferred to Record Office, London; principal proprietor of Bedlington colliery on the Tyne. d. Greencroft hall, Durham 20 Dec. 1868.
DAVISON, Maria Rebecca (dau. of Mr. Duncan of Liverpool, actor). b. Liverpool 1783; acted in England, Scotland and Ireland; first appeared in London at Drury Lane 8 Oct. 1804 as Lady Teazle; created the rôle of Juliana in The Honeymoon 31 Jany. 1805; acted at Drury Lane 1804–19 and 1825–29 and at Covent Garden 1819–21; her best parts were Maria in The Citizen and Miss Hardcastle in She stoops to conquer. (m. 31 Oct. 1812 James Davison, who d. March 1858). d. Brompton, London 30 May 1858. Mrs. C. Baron Wilson’s Our actresses i, 167–88 (1844); Oxberry’s Dramatic Biography i, 51–7 (1825), portrait; J. H. Leigh Hunt’s Critical essays on the performers of the London theatres (1807) 170–79; The London Stage vol. 3, portrait.
DAVISON, Robert. b. Belford, Northumberland 10 May 1804; resident engineer to Truman and Co. brewers, London 1831–45; patented a process for drying wood and other substances by currents of hot air which was worked by Patent Desiccating Co. 1845 and received gold medal of Soc. of Arts; erected Findlater’s brewery, Dublin 1852; designed Allsopp’s new brewery at Burton; invented machinery for raising and conveying malt; patented machinery for cleansing casks by a double rotatory motion; A.I.C.E. 1834, M.I.C.E. 1840; prime warden of Blacksmiths’ Co. 1857–58. d. Finchley 14 March 1886. Min. of proc. of Instit. of C.E. ii, 192 (1842), iii, 57 (1843), lxxxiv, 442–44 (1886).
DAVISON, Sir William (son of Alexander Davison of St. James’s sq. London, government contractor 1750–1829). b. 1788; ed. at Eton; captain Northumberland militia 7 July 1807; equerry to 1 Duke of Cambridge 1813–50; equerry to 2 Duke of Cambridge 1850 to death; captain on half pay of 2 Foot 25 Dec. 1813; lieut. col. in the army 10 Jany. 1837; K.H. 1824; knighted at the King’s lodge, Windsor 3 Sep. 1824. d. London 14 Jany. 1873.
DAVY, David Elisha (son of Mr. Davy of Rumburgh, Suffolk, farmer, who d. 1799 aged 90). b. 1769; F.L.S. 17 Dec. 1793; receiver general for Suffolk 1795; collected for nearly 50 years, materials for history of Suffolk which were bought by British Museum 1852; communicated a series of notices of sepulchral monuments existing in parish churches of Suffolk to the Topographer and Genealogist; wrote many articles on genealogical matters to Gent. Mag. under initials D. A. Y.; author of A short account of Leiston Abbey by D. E. D. edited by J. Bird 1823. d. Ufford near Woodbridge, Suffolk 15 Aug. 1851.
DAVY, Edmund (2 son of William Davy of Penzance). b. Penzance 1785; assistant in laboratory of Royal Institution, London 1804–13; professor of chemistry in Royal Cork Institution 1813–26 and in Royal Dublin Society 1826–1854 when he retired on full salary; gave upwards of 30 courses of lectures on chemical subjects; F.R.S. 19 Jany. 1826; author of An essay on the use of peat or turf as a means of promoting the public health and the agriculture of the United Kingdom 1850, and of 33 papers 1812–57. d. Kimmage lodge, co. Dublin 5 Nov. 1857. H. B. Jones’s Royal Institution (1871) pp. 280, 360, 366.
DAVY, Edward (eld. son of Thomas Davy of Ottery St. Mary, Devon, surgeon). b. Ottery St. Mary 16 June 1806; ed. at St. Bartholomew’s hospital; L.S.A. 1828, M.R.C.S. 1829; operative chemist at 390 Strand, under title of Davy and Co. 1830; invented and patented Davy’s Diamond Cement 1835; laid down a mile of copper wire around inner circle of Regent’s Park 1837 where he made many experiments in electricity; opened an exhibition of his telegraphic apparatus at Exeter hall 29 Dec. 1837; patented his electro-chemical recording telegraph 4 July 1838 which was bought by the Electric Telegraph Company for £600; sailed for Australia as medical superintendent of an emigrant ship 15 April 1839; edited the Adelaide Examiner 1843–5; manager of copper smelting works at Yatala 1848–51; head of Government Assay office at Adelaide 1852–3 and at Melbourne, July 1853 to Dec. 1854; surgeon at Malmesbury, Victoria 1855 to death; author of An experimental guide to chemistry 1836; Outline of a new plan of telegraphic communication 1836. d. Malmesbury 27 Jany. 1885. Memoir of E. Davy by his nephew H. Davy 1883; J. J. Fahie’s Edward Davy and the electric telegraph 1836 to 1839 (1883).