Peter Davey (1760-1846) & Elizabeth Mills (1768-c1801)
Peter Davey, the son of Peter Davey and Katherine Hurlock, was born on 11 December 1760 and baptised at Elmstead Church on 4 January 1761.
Elizabeth Mills was baptised on 2 November 1768 at St Saviour’s, Southwark (now the cathedral), the daughter of Jacob Mills and his second wife, Elizabeth Vaughan.
On 23 August 1791, Peter Davey of the parish of St John’s Wapping married Elizabeth Mills at St Mary’s, Battersea. “Mr Davey, a merchant of Colchester, to Miss Mills, daughter of [Jacob] Mills, esq, of Mount Pleasant and a merchant of the borough” (Bath Chronicle Sept. 1791).
In 1787 Peter Davey had gone into partnership with John Townsend as a coal merchant at Union Wharf, Wapping.
In December 1793 this partnership was dissolved, as was a partnership between Peter’s father-in-law, Jacob Mills, and Samuel Sawyer, a coal merchant, the latter then joining with Peter Davey.
The partnership of Davey & Sawyer Co. traded from the south-west bank of Blackfriars bridge and from the Coal Exchange.
The coal wharf had a river frontage of 141 feet, and backed onto Upper Ground Street (statement by Peter Davey junior to the Thames Embankment Commission 1862); the address was also given as Old Barge House Wharf.
Peter and Elizabeth had four children who survived to adulthood: Peter Davey born 1792, Jacob Mills Davey in 1794, Martha in 1797, and Ann in 1799.
Elizabeth Mills died on 29 January 1801 and was buried at Christ Church Southwark on 6 February.
In 1804 Peter Davey married the widowed sister of his late wife, Sarah Connop (née Mills). Peter and Sarah had four children: Elizabeth born in June 1805, Francis born in October 1806, Henry born in October 1807, and Katherine born in October 1809.
During this time, Peter Davey’s address is given as Great Charlotte Street, off Blackfriars Road in Southwark (1798) and then 5 Albion Place. The family later moved to North Terrace, Camberwell.
Following the death of his mother Peter Davey advertised the let or sale of a “most desirable dwelling house” and farm and land – the “principal mansion is a substantial brick building about 40 feet square, consisting of 4 rooms on the ground floor, 5 chambers and 4 attics” (Ipswich Journal, August 1805). Hill House was eventually occupied by his son-in-law, William Downes.
Peter Davey (or his son) held a Game Duty certificate for Monmouthshire in 1812 (under his London address), and also for Herefordshire in 1811 under the address of his father-in-law Jacob Mills at Lawton in the parish of Kingsland.
In May 1800 Peter Davey was granted a patent for his method of improving fuel by coking, or part-coking/cementing with , the coal to increase the heat given off. This was thereafter advertised as Davey’s Patent Fuel which was “superior fuel for the winter, which burns without smoke, gives a great heat, and is particularly adapted for drawing rooms &c”. The method was clearly successful and his son Peter took out a further patent in 1821 for the preparation of coal for fuel.
Peter Davey was chairman of the Society of Owners of Coal Craft, which dated from 1730 and was effectively the guild of coal merchants in London, when he gave evidence in 1821 to the Parliamentary committee considering the rebuilding of London Bridge; Peter Davey supported the proposal believing it would benefit his business. Barges shipped coal up the Thames to his wharf from the Pool of London to the east of London Bridge and there was a documented accident involving a Davey & Sawyer barge at London Bridge.
In 1805 he joined the Thames Archway Company (whose aim was to build the first tunnel under the river). He was also listed as a guardian of the “Asylum or House of Refuge, Lambeth” and as a member of the Royal Humane Society.
The firm of Davey, Sawyer and Co was dissolved 1 January 1827 and eventually was taken over by Peter’s son, Peter Davey junior, and his partner William Pegg, who continued trading as Davey and Pegg.
Sarah Mills Davey died in 1831 and was buried at Camberwell Old Cemetery.
The Collingwood/Townroe family notes stated that according to his diary, Peter left his business and “retired 1832 at age of 72, succeeded by son Peter. Made first railway journey, Manchester to Liverpool in 1½ hours. Spent Christmas 1838 at Hill House, Dedham, with his daughter Anne and son-in-law William Downes. In June 1839, went by newly-opened London & Southampton Railway to Southampton, thence by boat to Weymouth, Torquay, Plymouth, Lynmouth to Clifton, then to London by Great Western Railway. In October 1839, rode alone from London through Essex and Suffolk. In 1840, aged 80, toured North Wales and ascended Snowdon.”
Peter was listed as a friend and supporter of William Ward who was elected MP for the City of London in the Tory interest in 1826.
Peter Davey retained his attachment to Dedham although his main residence was North Terrace in Camberwell. In the 1841 register of electors he was listed as owning a copyhold house and land in the occupation of his son-in-law William Downes as tenant (Peter’s son, Peter Davey junior, also owned copyhold cottages and land in Dedham). He was also the senior governor of the Dedham Grammar School, having served for over 60 years.
Peter Davey was living at Mill Lane, Dedham, when he died on 1 August 1846, aged 85. After his death, the “furniture, china, glass, a few books and prints, shower bath, pianoforte, cellar of old wines of the late Peter Davey Esq” of 3 North Terrace, Camberwell, were advertised for auction.
Peter and his sister share a memorial tomb (below centre) in a bay outside the south aisle in Dedham churchyard. The Davey memorial window (below left) in the north aisle, which also commemorates Peter’s son Francis (Frank), dates from the end of the C19th. It replaced the original Davey family window in the South Aisle (below right), fragments of which were transferred to the north aisle c1880s. The original Davey window was referenced in the book The East Anglian (1864) when describing Dedham church: “In the south aisle is a memorial window for Peter Davey…and his sister Martha – Gules, a cross Or, pierced Sable.”
Below: the lower panels in the panels of the Davey Memorial window
The children of Peter Davey continued to have strong associations with Dedham:
Martha Davey (1797-1884) remained unmarried and lived at Mill Street in Dedham, where she died on 19 January 1884.
Ann Davey (1799-1886) married William Downes on 18 October 1921 at St Giles, Camberwell. They settled in Dedham, where they lived first at Hill House then on Gun Hill and are also remembered in a memorial window in the church, as are their daughters.
Francis (Frank) Davey (1805-1890) joined the Honourable East India Company Service as a midshipman in 1820, aged 13. He made several voyages to India before retiring to Dedham in 1830, where he worked with his brother-in-law, William Downes. “He retired on a pension [from the Hon. East Company Service], which he has now drawn for 60 years, and was, we believe, about the last survivor of the HEISCS – at any rate amongst naval officers. [He was] best known as an all-round sportsman…He was the oldest Governor of the Dedham Grammar School, having been elected in 1847. He also took an active part in the early days of the Volunteers, and was Captain of the Dedham Company while it lasted” (Bury & Norwich Post). He was most noted as a veteran of the Essex and Suffolk Hunt. He died on 4 July 1890. “In his last illness he was nursed by his servant Isaac, who had been with him 50 years” (Essex Herald). He is commemorated in the Davey memorial window in the north aisle of Dedham church.
The eldest son, Peter Davey III (1793-1879), followed his father into business, joining the partnership of Davey & Sawyer. He remained living in London. After his father retired, he went into partnership with William Pegg – and Davey & Pegg continued as coal and coke merchants from Old Barge House Wharf. The business was successful and acquired the Birchgrove Colliery in Llansamlet, near Swansea. The partnership was dissolved in 1853.
Katherine Davey (1809-1894) married Thomas Dunnage, a lead merchant. They retired to Dedham, where they lived at Brook Cottage. When Katherine Dunnage died in 1894, an obituary noted that she “was the last of the old generation of the well-known Davey family, who have resided for four generations in Dedham, and who certainly have an extraordinary age record. Mrs Dunnage’s grandfather died an octogenarian, and was buried at Elmstead, with his wife, the daughter of Capt. Hurlock, who then occupied Elmstead Hall. [She] was highly regarded in the parish and neighbourhood and she will be greatly missed by all classes, and more especially by the poor, to whom she had been a kind benefactress, her benevolence being boundless.” (Essex County Standard 1894)