William Davies (master mariner)

Captain William Davies MBE (1862 – 27 March 1936) was a British sea captain and business man, a founding partner in the City of London shipping company Davies and Newman and Chairman of the London General Shipowners Society.

His Petroleum Tables (1903), a standard reference work for tanker officers, went into several editions and was still the best-known book on its subject in the 1930s. During the First World War, Davies worked with the Admiralty on tanker transportation and was rewarded with the Order of the British Empire.

Career
A barque in 1878

Born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, Davies went to sea in 1875, shipping as a boy in a Welsh barque. He got his Master's Certificate in 1885 and his Extra Master's Certificate in 1887, bringing with it the title of master mariner. He quickly specialized in the new business of moving bulk oil across the Atlantic and around the world, which led to his observations on the expansion of oils in tankers. In 1903 he published his work, with other seafaring information, for the use of his fellow tanker officers.[1] Davies's book Petroleum Tables went into many editions.[2] In 1915, The Petroleum World commented on it "We draw special attention to Capt. William Davies's Petroleum Tables, which is now stocked at the offices of The Petroleum World. This is the standard book for computations and conversions."[3] It remained the best-known publication on the subject until the 1930s.[4]

During the First World War, Davies worked closely with the Admiralty on tanker transportation, taking charge of all tanker movements at Le Havre. For this service, he was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire.[5]

In 1922, Davies went into partnership with a City of London tanker broker, Frank Newman, in a privately held shipping company called Davies and Newman,[1] to carry on business as shipbrokers, oilbrokers, and tanker managers.[6] They took over the interests of an insolvent company, Lane and MacAndrew,[7] and soon became a major force in the world of petroleum, while also operating in other areas of shipping.[6]

In 1934, Davies was also Chairman of the London General Shipowners Society, and in October 1934 he was a speaker at celebrations to mark the centenary of Lloyd's Register of Shipping.[8] At the time of his death, he was also a member of the Tanker Pool Committee and had been connected with the bulk oil trade for almost fifty years.[1]

Private life
All Souls, Langham Place

In 1902, at Wandsworth, Davies married Emma Maud Oldaker,[9] born in 1874, the daughter of Thomas A. Oldaker, an estate agent, by his marriage to Letitia Capel Pulley, a sister of Sir Joseph Pulley.[10] They had three children, Mary Frances Oldaker Davies, born in 1903, Letitia Pulley Davies, born in 1905,[11] and finally a son, John Wingett Davies, born in 1908, who later succeeded his father as a director of Davies and Newman and was Frederick Newman's deputy chairman at Dan-Air, a subsidiary of the shipping company.[12]

On 2 July 1928, when the Davies family was living at Coopersale Hall, near Epping, their younger daughter, Letitia, married Dr Francis Cecil Chalklin, a research physicist, of Hadlow, at St Clement Danes, Strand, London.[13][14] The two were working together in the Physics Laboratory at University College, London.[15]

On 21 September 1929 the Davieses' older daughter, Mary, was married at All Souls Church, Langham Place, Marylebone, to Geoffrey Gillam, a young physician, by the Rev. Arthur Buxton, assisted by the bride's cousin, the Rev. Wilfrid Oldaker, with Captain Davies giving away the bride; there was a wedding reception at the nearby Langham Hotel.[16] The Gillams went on to have three sons.[17]

Davies died at the Beacon Hotel, Hindhead, Surrey, in 1936, aged 73,[18] leaving a widow and an estate valued at £78,242, equivalent to £5,355,410 in 2019.[19] His widow survived him until December 1951, ending her life living in a hotel at Caterham, Surrey.[20]

Publications
  • William Davies, Petroleum Tables; being some useful Tables used for Ascertaining the Weights and Measures of Petroleum Cargoes, and a Table of Distances (London: Goodman, Burnham, and Company, 1903)
  • William Davies Petroleum Tables (Dunn, Collins & Co., 1912, 5th edition)

Notes
  1. "The Late Captain Wm. Davies", in Fairplay Weekly Shipping Journal, Vol. 139 (Fairplay Publications Limited, 1936), pp. 10 & 50
  2. William Davies, Petroleum Tables (Dunn, Collins & Co., 1912, 5th edition)
  3. The Petroleum World, Vol. 12 (1915), p. 146
  4. Journal of the Institute of Petroleum: Abstracts, Vols. 42–43 (Institute of Petroleum of Great Britain, 1956), p. 239
  5. "Captain William Davies" obituary in Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, Vol. 47 (1936), p. 431
  6. Floatation letter to Hambros from Mr. F. E. F. Newman, M.C., Chairman and Managing Director of Davies and Newman, dated 30 September 1971, published in Financial Times dated 1 October 1971
  7. "Mr E. O. Wallis", obituary in Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, Vol. 100 (1962), p. 20
  8. Centenary Celebration of the Reconstitution of Lloyd's Register of Shipping, October, 1934 (Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1934), p. 3
  9. "Davies William & Oldaker Emma Maud" in Register of Marriages for Wandsworth Registration District, vol. 1d (1902), p. 753
  10. Finian Leeper, Thomas (Tom) Allies Oldaker family tree at cam.ac.uk, accessed 25 April 2019
  11. "Davies, Letitia Pulley" in Register of Births for Wandsworth Registration District, vol. 1d (1903), p. 626 and vol. 1d (1905), p. 624
  12. Directors at danairremembered.com, accessed 22 April 2019
  13. Kent & Sussex Courier dated Friday 29 June 1928, p. 8
  14. "MR. F. C. CHALKLIN — MISS L. DAVIES" in Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser dated 6 Jul 1928
  15. Dr F. C. Chalklin, Mrs L. P. Chalkin, "A displacement in the N lines of Tungsten and Tantalum, Nature (Macmillan Journals Limited, 1928), 905–906
  16. "Marriage of Mr G. G. Gillam" in Hendon & Finchley Times dated Friday 27 September 1929, p. 13, col. 5, online at britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, accessed 24 April 2019, (subscription required) : "MARRIAGE OF MR. G. G. GILLAM. A wedding which had considerable interest to Golders Green residents took place Saturday at All Souls’ Church, Langham-place, London. The bridegroom was Mr. Geoffrey Gerard Gillam M.B. B.S. ...and the bride Miss Mary Frances Oldaker Gillam, elder daughter of Captain and Mrs Davies, of Coopersale Hall, near Epping, Essex. The Rev. W. H. Oldaker, assisted by the Rev. Arthur Buxton, officiated. The bride, who was given away by her father, wore a medieval gown of ivory moire... Mr John Gillam attended his brother as best man. A reception was held at the Langham Hotel, and later the bride and bridegroom left for Brittany..."
  17. A. M. Nussey, "Geoffrey Gerrard Gillam" in William Munk, ed., The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London: Continued to 1975 (The College, 1982), pp. 196–198
  18. Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, Vol. 47 (1936), p. 431: "The death occurred at Hindhead on Friday, at the age of 73, of Captain William Davies, a director and founder of Davies & Newman Limited, oil and steamship brokers."
  19. "DAVIES William of 3 Gracechurch-street London died 27 March 1936 at the Beacon Hotel Hindhead Surrey" in Probate Index for 1936 at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 23 April 2019
  20. "DAVIES Emma Maud of Caterham Hotel Harestone Valley road Caterham Surrey widow died 26 December 1951" in Probate Index for 1952 at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 24 April 2019
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