A Victorian Gentleman in Wantage by Trevor Hancock

THE visit to Wantage last month of descendants of two notable families of this area in the 19th century prompts me to relate the story of Victorian geologist, paleontologist and antiquarian Edward Davey, who resided in Wantage from 1859 to 1884.

He is one of the authors of Wantage Past and Present which, although published in 1900, is still regarded as one of the standard books on the history of the town.

Last month we were graced with a visit from Davey's great, great, great granddaughter Mari DiChiara and great, great granddaughter Patricia Gibbons.

Born 1833, Davey was the youngest son of George and Elizabeth Davey of Overy, Dorchester, Oxfordshire.

George Davey was a well-respected farmer and cattle-breeder who won several prizes at Smithfield Cattle Market.

Edward was educated at St Edmunds College, generally known simply as Douai, and Stoneyhurst College in Lancashire.

A great linguist, he eventually became fluent in eight foreign languages including Russian and Norwegian. He was later used by the Government as a translator during WW1.

In 1861 Edward Davey was living in Newbury Street with his family.

His daughter Teresa was to marry in New York in 1888, John Venable Gibbons, the son of Henry P. Gibbons.

Henry P Gibbons was one of the partners in the firm P & H P Gibbons which later became Wantage Engineering Ltd.

Sadly, Teresa Davey died in 1889, however her sister Mary Ellen (who had also emigrated to the USA) married John V Gibbons later the same year.

Edward Davey was a Wine and Spirit Merchant and Insurance Agent, based at the Post Office Vaults, where the opticians is today.

He sold Havana cigars, lemon soda water and was an agent for the brewers, Allsops and Guinness.

Davey was also one of the first directors of the Wantage Tramway when it was formed in 1873, and a coal merchant dealing in coal arriving in the town via the Tramway.

However, he was far more interested in his private interests than his businesses which probably suffered as a result.

He was a fellow of the Geological Society, a member of the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and an original member of the British Numismatic Society.

He had a collection of fossils, coins (early British, Anglo-Saxon and mediaeval) and Roman Villa remains discovered at West Challow in 1876.

People would also bring their findings to him for identification. If there were local excavations (such as in 1875 to procure ballast for the Wantage Tramway) Davey would make a visit to talk to the workmen to see if there were any interesting finds.

He had been partly instrumental in procuring for the British Museum dinosaur bones that had been found at Swindon, for which he had received the thanks of Sir Richard Owen, the Victorian palaeontologist who coined the word dinosauria.

He was often in demand as a speaker at the Wantage Corn Exchange with lectures on local history and geology.

He was asked to comment on an earthquake felt in England on October 30, 1868, and said it had been felt at about 10:35pm.

In 1884, Edward Davey and his family left Wantage for Bath, selling the contents of their house in Mill Street by auction.

Edward Davey found employment as the manager of the Bladud Coal Company and Midland Coal Wharf.

He continued his historical work, becoming the honorary secretary of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution and the curator of the Holbourne Museum.

It was at this time he collaborated with Agnes Gibbons on the writing of ‘Wantage Past and Present’.

Edward Davey passed away aged 91 on February 1, 1923, in Bath.