The Grandparents’ Blog

Who was our greatgrandpa, the founder of our nomadic branch of the Clan Davison?

Known to all as Bill – he was born in 1914 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Bill’s father, George, was a plumber but not much is known about him. Bill’s mother Sarah Jane (Adams), known as Jenny, was a seamstress and worked in a tailor shop in Newcastle.

(see also on http://www.lennonwylie.co.uk/Davison.htm)

Bill had four brothers. One died as an infant; a second, George, died as a child; a third John, died around 1940 in a motor cycle accident and Tommy, the youngest, outlived Bill by only seven days.

Bill worked for a cabinet maker in Newcastle for several years before joining the Prudential as an insurance agent. Apart from war time, he worked in insurance for most of the next forty years. He was very active in the Boys Brigade and the YMCA excelling as a boxer and he kept these activities up until the war started.

Bill married Tess in 1938 and they bought their first house on the Military Road leading west out of Newcastle. Tess (Esther Elizabeth Linton – known to all as Tess or Tessie) was born in 1919 and came from County Durham. Her father, George Greenfield Linton, was born in or near Newcastle around 1892, had served in the British Army in World War I, and had spent time over the years in the North Sea fishing industry both on the boats and later owning his own fish shops in Newcastle. Tess’ mother, also Elizabeth (nee Robinson), came from the Easington area.

Bill was called up in 1940 and Tess moved in with Jenny in Goldspink Lane in Jesmond Dean, Newcastle where she lived until 1945. A Corporal, Bill was a lorry driver and company clerk in the Royal Army Service Corps serving in the Middle East and moving with the Eighth Army up through Sicily and Italy. He was “mentioned in dispatches” for his service in the campaigns and was demobbed in 1945, as an “acting” sergeant. He returned to his pre-war job at the Prudential and settled down for a while. He joined the Masons in Newcastle and was an active member there and later in St Petersburg over the next twenty years.

In 1955 my parents decided to immigrate to Toronto, Canada. We sailed from Liverpool on the RMS Franconia, arriving in Toronto during a 95° heat wave. One year later, when we planned our first reunion picnic at Niagara Falls, it was near freezing with snow on the ground! Needless to say the Canadian winters were never going to be popular with Bill after spending five years in the North African desert!

In 1958, the family emigrated again, this time to St Petersburg, Florida. There Bill established his own insurance agency and Tess worked for the St Petersburg Times until they both retired at the end of the sixties. After four or five years of retirement, wanderlust struck again and Tess and Bill moved back to England leaving their sons in Florida. Both Bill and John brought their families over to England in the late 70’s.

Over the next fifteen years or so they divided their time between England and Florida. They first lived in Exeter, Bedlington, Paignton then Peterborough. In 1985, together with Bill and Edna, they moved back to live in Florida. They stayed with John and Connie on short visits to England over the next few years.

In 1992, whilst living in St Petersburg, Bill passed away after a short illness. He was a well respected businessman in the local community and was much loved by his family. He was fortunate to see six grandchildren and three great grandchildren join the family – a further six great grandchildren were added over the next ten years. Tess lived out her remaining years in St Petersburg passing away in 2001. She is also remembered and loved by us all.