Mrs Nellie Davison at Well Hall .......... stories behind the book nu 27 making the connection

An occasional series on the stories behind the book on Manchester and the Great War*

Places Nellie would have visited, the parish church, 1915

By now I shouldn’t be surprised at how what seem random bits of history have a habit of becoming entangled and by degree draw me into the story.

Of course I know that theory that you are only seven handshakes away from  the great and the famous but I was not prepared for just how close I came to a couple who lived in Manchester during the Great War.

They were George and Nellie Davison who were married in 1908 and settled in Romiley after living here in Chorlton-cum-Hardy and in Hulme.

George Davison enlisted in 1914, spent time in Woolwich and Ireland and died on the Western Front in 1918.

Duncan and Nellie Davison circa 1916

Over the last three years I have slowly worked my way through the letters he sent and a collection of his photographs, papers and medals.

Nellie spent time with him both in Woolwich and in Ireland which I thought must have been unusual but perhaps not.

And then yesterday I came across a comment from George that a Mrs Drinkal missed Nellie commenting that “she was lost" without the presence of his wife.  Now that letter was sent from Woolwich which offered up a tantalizing clue as to where Mrs Davison stayed and perhaps where George was billited.

Well Hall Road, 1915

And with the help of my friend Tricia from Bexleyheath we think we know where that house was.

Having found one link to a Mr Drinkal I passed the task over to Tricia who came up with the goods

He was she told me “living at 7a Elmbrook Street which appears to be hutments on the site of where the Well Hall Odeon later stood.

William Henry Drinkal and Hilda May Garrod were married in 1916 at Dunmow in Essex and had their first child in 1917.”

All of which fits because a W H Drinkhall witnessed George’s will in March 1918.

Now I know the spelling is different but the coincidences are too close and so I can now place our Nellie in Eltham in 1916 on Well Hall Road.

And the real prize for me is that the Drinkal home was just minutes from 294 Well Hall where our family lived from 1964.

294 Well Hall Road, 2015

So there you have it.......  half a century may separate me from George and Nellie but there is the link.

It would be easy get a bit silly about the connection but for someone who has spent the last few years getting to know Mr and Mrs Davison, sharing their ups and downs and his final fate there is something powerful in knowing that we share the same place.

All of which just leaves me to thank Tricia, and remind  those who live in Manchester that the George Davison collection will be part of the exhibition in July to commemorate the Battle of the Somme in the Remembrance Lodge in Southern Cemetery.

Research by Tricia Leslie

Location, Well Hall, Eltham, London

Pictures; from the collections of David Harrop and Andrew Simpson

Painting; 294 Well Hall Road, © 2015 Peter Topping

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*A new book on Manchester and the Great War http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

“At present we do nothing at all other than parade” ......... sharing a day in 1915 with George Davison at Woolwich Barracks*

Mr and Mrs Davison and their son, 1916 Ireland

Now I went looking for anything that might have happened on October 27 1915 but the databases proved unrewarding.

“Unfortunately” according to one “there are no historic events for this date” other than it was the day that Herschel Saltzman was born and as everyone knows he  “was a Canadian theatre and film producer best known for his mega-gamble which resulted in his co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R.”**

So a day of little significance which was pretty much how George Davison of the Royal Artillery described that Monday in 1915 to his wife in a letter home.

Woolwoch Barracks circa 1914

He had enlisted the year before had spent Christmas and most of 1915 in Ireland before briefly being posted to Woolwich and judging by his comments the army was not quite ready for his arrival.

There were no beds but he had managed to “find two blankets and use my coat and trousers for a pillow – the floor is the only bed and it is abominably draughty.  Our German friends (?) chipped pieces off the barracks the other day and part of the roof is being temporarily held up by wooden joists.”

And time hung heavily “at present we do nothing at all other than parade at 6 o clock am 8 am and 1.45 pm to see if any clothing is available.  There are no knives forks or spoons to eat with so you can imagine the result when fingers have to be used.”

George's letter to Nellie, October 27 1915

His experiences were no doubt echoed by his companions and conditions must have been grim given “that there are 1500 more men than the place will accommodate” which accounted for meal times being “something approaching a football scramble.”

Added to which he was still unable to “send a complete address [because] there are about 1000 other recruits to be dealt with before I get posted to any Battery.”

But there were compensations and George had managed to get the pendant and chain his wife had asked for.

Now on the surface it is an unremarkable letter but of course that is what makes it so important, for here stuck in Woolwich was George Davison biding his time as the army coped with the huge numbers of men who had volunteered since the outbreak of war.

For anyone who knows Woolwich Barracks George’s description of his time there will be of special interest more so because of the reference to Zeppelin raids.

And here I have to own up to a personal connection because just under a year after the letter was written the house two doors down to ours on Well Hall Road was destroyed by a Zeppelin bomb.

History of War, Part XXIV October 27 1915

Nor is that the only link with Mr Davison because for a while he lived here in Chorlton-cum-Hardy just a short walk from our house on Beech Road.

But even if there were not these personal links I have over the last year become close to the man as I work my through the collection of letters he sent home to his wife.

The George Davison Collection is a wonderful insight into how one family coped with the Great War and is a neat contrast to a contemporary account of the war issued by the Manchester Guardian every fortnight.***

And by sheer chance the first volume I have is dated October 27 1915 and covers the Italian Campaign, Russian Domestic Politics and the war on the Western Front with the added bonus of a series of adverts for everything from A Sun Bath to Valkasa the Tonic Nerve Food and the Manchester Guardian Christmas Gifts Fun known as "Tommy's Christmas which was “open again for the supply of Comforts for Lancashire and Cheshire Regiments at the Front.”

I will never know if Mr Davison read the history or if he benefited from “Tommy’s Christmas.”

By November 1915 he was back in Ireland and there he would stay till he was posted to the Western Front.

Pictures; of George Davison his wife Nellie and son, the extract from his letter, postcard of Woolwich Barracks and over of the History of War, courtesy of David Harrop.

*The George Davison collection is a unique record of material held by David Harrop and includes letters postcards, official documents many personal items from when Mr Davison was born in Manchester to his death on the Western Front in June 1918 and continues into the middle of the century. George Davison, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/George%20Davison

**HISTORYINDATES, http://historyindates.com/27-october-1915/

***The Manchester Guardian History of the War

Made in Woolwich at the Arsenal in memory of those who died in the Great War

Now I grew up in one of those houses built for Arsenal workers during the Great War, and have read about the munition girls, the vast numbers of shells and bullets which were turned out but had no idea that from 1920 they were also responsible for making these bronze plaques issued to the next of kin who lost loved ones in the conflict.

Memorial Plaque, circa 1919

It measures 122mm in diameter and depicts an image of Britannia holding a trident and standing beside a lion.  Two dolphins swim around Britannia and a second lion appears at the bottom.

Each plaque carried the name of the dead servicemen omitting any reference to a rank and running along the plaque was the inscription “He died for Freedom and Honour” which was changed for the 600 issued to commemorate women to  “She died for Freedom and Honour.” 

In all 1,355,000 were made and they continued to be produced into the 1930s in recognition of those who died of their wounds after the war.

The first were made in Acton in London and in 1920  production was transferred to the Royal Arsenal and here comes the connection with George Davison of Manchester.

He enlisted in 1914, served in Ireland and died on the Western Front in June 1918 and in 1915 and again in 1916 and 1918 he was stationed in Woolwich.

Those made in Woolwich have a special mark on the back which George's has got which marks another link between him and Woolwich and confirms that his was made sometime during or after 1920.

All of which just leaves me to mention his will made in March 1918 in Woolwich shortly before embarking for the Western Front. It is witnessed by H M Drinkhall and V L Dade, and was hand written in a single sheet of note paper and is simple and the point. “This is the last will and testament of me George Gurnel Davison of Birch Vale Cottage, Romily, Cheshire.  

I give devise and bequeath to my dear wife Mary Ellen all my property whatsoever and wheresoever and I appoint her sole Executor of this my will.”

By the time he made the will he had served with the Royal Artillery for four years and spent time in London and Ireland but now with the German offensive in full swing he was about to go to France, and as we know would be killed just three months later.

Location; Woolwich, London

Pictures, memorial plaque, circa 1920 and will, 1918, of George Davison from the collection of David Harrop

Christmas 1915 ............ thoughts from George to his wife Nellie

Last  Christmas our Saul was not  with us and he was missed.

All of which makes me reflect on how much harder it must have been for thousands of families a century ago as we moved towards the second Christmas of the Great War.

George Davison was serving with the Royal Artillery in Ireland and while he had hoped to be home for the festival it wasn’t to be.

And so on the evening of December 23rd he sat down and wrote a quick note to his wife Nellie managing to catch the last post of the day.

It was of course shot through with thoughts of Christmas and the wish that Nellie would enjoy her present and get a toy for their son Duncan but just for a moment George reflected on the absence of any letters from his friends and family “since I left home.  I certainly thought I had a few friends but the old saying ‘out of sight out of mind’ is still true.”

But it was a momentary blip in what was an optimistic letter made more so by the news that Nellie had moved from Hulme to Birch Vale cottage in Romily, “you will find it rather lovely but of course there is nothing like having a home of your own.  I hope you will be comfy in it.”

This was to be her home for most of the Great War and into the decades afterwards.

I don’t know if George ever visited the cottage and Nellie did sub let the property for a while near the end of the war but it is still there today and I rather think later next year I shall go looking for it.

All of which just leaves me to finish with George’s closing remarks “with best wishes for a jolly Xmas for yourself and Duncan.”

Picture; extract from the letter dated December 23 1915 from the George Davison Collection courtesy of David Harrop

Mrs Nellie Davison’s War .......... stories behind the book nu 25

An occasional series on the stories behind the new book on Manchester and the Great War*

Duncan and Mrs Davison, circa 1915/1916

Nellie Davison nee Latchford was born in Hulme in 1889.  She was one of seven children.

Her father was a dyer but briefly had chanced his luck as a coal merchant but either because he was not suited to do the occupation or for other reasons he had reverted back to his old job.

Her older brothers and sisters had been engaged in a variety of occupations.  Two worked in the fabric trade, another was an iron turner and fitter and the eldest had a fish and chip business.

And by 1911 the family were living in a three roomed house on Percy Street which had been one of a succession of houses all in Hulme all bounded by City Road to the north and Stretford Road to the south.

Postcard to Hulme, 1915

During 1907 she had been walking out with Mr George Davison.

He was three years older and had been born in Harpurhey and  belonged to those “middling people.”

His father was a solicitor’s clerk and George while working as a clerk attended night school studying English, Latin, French and Euclid which was hard work but as he wrote to Nellie “your future happiness as well as my own depends largely on the results of my studies during the next few years.”

Those were successful and their marriage in 1908 was followed by the birth of their son and in the autumn of 1914 he along with thousands of others volunteered for the army.
In the course of the next four years he was stationed in Woolwich, Ireland and in the March of 1918 shipped out to the Western Front.

Now I still do not know that much about Nellie, but by picking through the letters George sent home it is possible to piece together something of her life during the war.

146 Bedford Street, 1894

Fairly early on she moved out of her home in Romiley where she had lived since 1908 and back to Hulme.

This was 146 Bedford Street in Hulme and here she stayed with her son Duncan till the end of the war.  It is unclear if this was where her parents lived or a place she rented.

But it made sense to move back to Hulme given that this was where some of her family were still living.

The cottage in Romiley was rented out to sub tenants and she only moved back sometime in late 1918 or early 1919.

George Davison, circa 1915/1916

What I did find interesting was that during the war Nellie and Duncan upped sticks and spent time in both London and Ireland in rented accommodation either close to the barracks where George was staying or
perhaps sharing the accommodation with him.

Now there will be someone much more qualified than me who will be able to explain how common this practice was but I find it fascinating especially given that rail travel became more expensive and difficult as the demands of the war impacted on the railway network reducing the number of trains.

George didn’t survive the war.  He was killed in the June of 1918 and the extensive correspondence with the various Government agencies throws light in the years that followed.

I know that she never remarried and was still in Romiley in 1955 and there is a hint that Duncan only died in the 1990s.

That as they say is for another post and of course appears as a story in the forth coming book.**

Eltham  Church and Well Hall Road in 1915

But there is one last bit of Nellie's story and it is a bit I overlooked when I first read the letters.  Geotge refers to a Mrs Drinkal who Nellie stayed with or met when she was visiting him in Woolwich in 1915 and there is also a W H Drinkall who witnesed his will three years later before he left woolwich.

The spelling is different but there may will be a link given that a W H Drinkal was living at 7a Elmbrook Street which is listed in the electoral roll for Eltham and three years later when George was briefly back in Woolwich he had to collect a parcel from "Well Hall Post office."

And that would put him close to where I grew up.  Now that makes a connection spanning fifty years.

Location; Hulme

Pictures; of Mr and Mrs Davison and Duncan, 1915/1916 and postcard 1915, from the collection of David Harrop, Eltham in 1915 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Bedford Street, 1844 from the OS for South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

*A new book on Manchester and the Great War http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

**Manchester and the Great War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/manchester-and-great-war

***Coming Soon ......... an exhibition in Southern Cemetery ........... remembering the Battle of the Somme, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/coming-soon-exhibition-in-southern.html

It’s been a long, long journey ......... the last bit of the George Davison story. .... 1886-1918

Now for a year and a bit I pretty much lived with George Davison and his family.

The memorial at Pozieres, 2017

He was born in Harpurhey in 1886 served with the Royal Artillery during the Great War and died in June 1918 on the Western Front.

Much of his life is recorded in what I now call the George Davison Collection which contains documents from his early life, the letters in wrote to his future wife and above all the letters and postcards he sent home while serving in the army.*

It is a remarkable collection and for me has a personal connection because for parts of the war he was stationed in Woolwich and may well have been billeted just a few doors away from where I grew up in Eltham in south east London.

George's letter of June 15 1918

And during the course of writing Manchester Remembering 1914-18 I drew on that collection including one of his last letters dated in the June of 1918 where he described his dug out “You would be surprised to see some of our living places – at present we have an excellent dug out about 20 feet below the surface. 

It has however two drawbacks – poor ventilation and only artificial (candle) light.
Compared to some it is a Palace.”**

And this was where he died on June 17 when the dugout received a direct.  All three men in the dug out were “killed instantly” and according to the Royal Engineers who inspected the position “it was not considered safe to recover the bodies.

The dug out was then filled in and is marked as the resting place of your brother in law and his comrade. ”***

Now I have read and reread those last few letters and they still have the power to move me.

I was prepared for the fact that he was killed but you can never quite shake off either the manner of the death or that the description in the letter of July 6.

The stone inscription, 2017

And today courtesy of Philippe Clerbout we have a picture of the memorial stone at the Pozieres Memorial where Mr Davison is recorded.

It was sent over to David Harrop who now owns the collection and closes the circle on Mr Davison and his family.

"Pozieres is a village 6 kilometres north-east of the town of Albert. The Memorial encloses Pozieres British Cemetery which is a little south-west of the village on the north side of the main road, D929, from Albert to Pozieres.

On the road frontage is an open arcade terminated by small buildings and broken in the middle by the entrance and gates. Along the sides and the back, stone tablets are fixed in the stone rubble walls bearing the names of the dead grouped under their Regiments.

It should be added that, although the memorial stands in a cemetery of largely Australian graves, it does not bear any Australian names. The Australian soldiers who fell in France and whose graves are not known are commemorated on the National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux."****

Picture; war memorial recording George Davison, courtesy of Philippe Clerbout and letter dated June 15 from the collection of David Harrop

*George Davison, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/George%20Davison

**Manchester Remembering 1914-18, Andrew Simpson, 2017, the History Press, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/today-new-book-on-manchester-and-great.html

***extract of the letter sent to Bdn W.F.Evans, R.A.F, July 6 1918
********POZIERES MEMORIAL, http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/87600/POZIERES%20MEMORIAL

My Dear Nellie ........... letters from George Davison .......... December 8 1915

Writing home, December 8 1915

It was the second Christmas of the Great War and there was no sign that George Davison would be granted leave and while he hoped it would be so he was not overconfident.

In his letter to his wife written on December 8 a full century ago he reflected on life in camp in Ireland.

He admitted to having been ill but only told Nellie after the event and instead focused on the niggles of army life which included the amount of tobacco he had left to last the month and how he might spend his remaining 2 shillings and sixpence.

Like all men far from home he missed his family and worried about their health but was pleased “to hear that Duncan and yourself are now alright but as regards loneliness you should be over here.

All the boys clear off at the earliest possible moment hunting for up the girls and I am left out in the cold.

George, Duncan and Nellie, 1916

If it were not for the fact that I have got hold of two other books on drill and can study them in readiness for my promised promotion, it would be a rotten time.

I have also found three chess players so matters are improving a little.”

Later the following year Nellie and Duncan did make the journey to join him.

We don’t know for how long but it will have been during that stay that the three of them had their picture taken.

And Nellie also spent time in London when George was stationed at Woolwich.

But during that December of 1915 they were apart.

Pictures; extract of George’s letter, December 5, 1915 and George Nellie and Duncan, 1916 from the George Davison collection courtesy of David Harrop