Sir

Francis Davies
Sir Francis Davies, c.1916
Born(1864-07-03)3 July 1864
London, England[1]
Died18 March 1948(1948-03-18) (aged 83)
Pershore, Worcestershire, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1881–1923
RankGeneral
UnitGrenadier Guards
Commands heldScottish Command
8th Division
1st Guards Brigade
Battles/warsSecond Boer War
First World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order

General Sir Francis John Davies, KCB, KCMG, KCVO (3 July 1864 – 18 March 1948) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the 8th Division during the First World War.[2]

Early life and education

Davies was born in London, the son of Lieutenant General Henry Fanshawe Davies and his wife, Ellen Christine Alexandra Hankey. His grandfather was General Francis John Davies (brother and heir of Thomas Henry Hastings Davies, MP for Worcester)[3] and his great-grandfather was Admiral of the Fleet Sir Thomas Byam Martin.[4] The family seat was Elmley Castle, Pershore, Worcestershire. His younger brother was Major General Henry Rodolph Davies. He was educated at Eton College.[2]

Military career

Davies was commissioned into the Worcestershire Militia in 1881.[5] He transferred to the Grenadier Guards — his father's and his grandfather's former regiment – as a lieutenant on 14 May 1884, becoming adjutant to the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards in 1893.[5] Promoted to captain on 28 October 1895, he was in 1897 posted to South Africa where he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant General for the Cape of Good Hope, and received a further promotion to major on 12 July 1899.[5][6] After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, he served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General responsible for Intelligence at Army Headquarters in South Africa.[5] He was appointed acting Commissioner of Police for Johannesburg in 1900,[5] and received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel dated 29 November 1900.[7]

Davies returned to the United Kingdom in 1902 and was temporarily employed in the Intelligence Department until he became Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General at the War Office on 7 September 1902.[8][9] Two years later he was appointed Assistant Director of Military Operations in 1904.[5] He was the British delegate to the International Conference on Wireless Telegraphy in Berlin in 1906 and then Assistant Quartermaster General for Western Command in 1907.[5] He was made General Officer Commanding 1 (Guards) Brigade in 1909 and then Director of Staff Duties at the War Office in 1913.[5]

Davies served in the First World War, becoming General Officer Commanding 8th Division on the Western Front in 1914,[10] in which capacity he led the division at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and the Battle of Aubers Ridge,[11] and Military Secretary in 1916.[5]

After the war Davies was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Scottish Command in 1919; he retired in 1923.[5]

Freemasonry

From 1919 until his death in 1948, Davies served as Provincial Grand Master of Freemasons in Worcestershire. During his time in office, 50 new masonic lodges were dedicated and he personally participated at 41 of these. From 1935 to 1947 he also held the position of Deputy Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, paying official visits to numerous Provinces in this country and to many Grand Lodges overseas.[12]

References

  1. ↑ 1911 England Census
  2. 1 2 "Obituary: General Sir F. Davies – A Gallipoli Commander". The Times. 19 March 1948. p. 7.
  3. ↑ Salmon, Philip. "DAVIES, Thomas Henry Hastings (1789-1846), of Elmley Castle, Worcs". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  4. ↑ Walford, Edward (1876). The County Families of the United Kingdom Or Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland. p. 265. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  6. ↑ Hart's Army list, 1903
  7. ↑ "No. 27306". The London Gazette. 19 April 1901. p. 2705.
  8. ↑ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36897. London. 13 October 1902. p. 7.
  9. ↑ "No. 27486". The London Gazette. 21 October 1902. p. 6652.
  10. ↑ Army Commands Archived 5 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ University of Birmingham
  12. ↑ Overview of the origins of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Worcestershire. Retrieved 12 November 2015
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