General

George’s burial is recorded in the register for Alnwick St. Michael: 

George’s will, dated 14 March 1827, which I was able to access on the North East Inheritance Database (ref. DPR/1/1827/D1) gives some interesting details: 

• His household goods, furniture, books, plate, linen, china, clothes and other goods were left to his “dear wife”, her executors, administrators and assigns 
• To William Davison, Chemist and Druggist of Alnwick, and to George’s brothers-in-law, Thomas Anderson, Hardwareman, of Alnwick, and Robert Anderson, Sadler, of Alnwick – all messuage, burgage or tenement with appurtenances in Alnwick in which he lived, to hold in trust, but that his wife and children must be allowed to live there until the public sale or private contract – whichever brought the best price 
• The three gentlemen also to dispose of the business in Newcastle, and to collect all debts owed to the business in both Alnwick and Newcastle, and to then use this money to pay off his debts and pay for his funeral 
• The executors to allow his wife to conduct and carry on the gun makers business in Alnwick under their direction – if she did not wish to do so, or died before the youngest child was 21 years old, the business and stock was to be disposed of and converted into money  
• Left £1 to his eldest son, Thomas Bilton Davison, once he attains 21 years of age, as he had already had a greater share of George’s effects than his brothers 
• His other sons to share everything else not already mentioned – George Davison, John Francis Davison, Edward Anderson Davison, Bilton Davison, Robert Anderson Davison, William Septimus Davison, Charles John Davison, and Anderson Davison, and any other child or children he may have 

After George’s death in 1827, it was said that Mary ran the shop as a gunmaker in her own right, but although the business was in her name, we can see from George’s will that she was under the direction of William Davison, and her brothers, Thomas and Robert Anderson. 

By 1829, George’s premises in Alnwick were to let.  A notice in the Newcastle Courant on Saturday 14 March 1829 reads: 

To be LET, and entered to at Whitsuntide first, 

A HOUSE AND SHOP, most eligibly situated in 

the Market-Place, Alnwick, at present occupied by Mrs 

Davison, Gun-Maker.  The Premises may be seen, and fur- 

ther Particulars known, on Application to Mr. F.C. Rattray. 

Alnwick, March 4th, 1829. 

Although the original shop was no longer available, the business continued.  In the Davison collection again, I found a letterhead dating to 1830, which names the proprietors as Davison and Snowdon.  This is presumably Mary, who has gone into partnership with George Snowdon – the apprentice that ran away from the business in 1820! 

Within Pigot’s Directory (Northern) dated 1834, Mary is listed as one of two ‘Gun Makers’ in Alnwick, alongside George Snowdon, who must have left the partnership to start his own business by that time. 

Ref.  Pigot’s Directory – Northern, 1834 

 Mary was still operating the business herself in 1836, as there is a letterhead, again in the Davison collection, which lists her as the sole proprietor. 

The next mention we have been able to find for Mary is in The Berwick Advertiser on 3 February 1838: 

Alnwick. 

Lately presented to the Museum of Mr. Davison, Apothe 

cary, Alnwick, Northumberland,… by Mrs Davison, gun 

maker, Alnwick, an Arctic Skua (Cataractes Parasiticus), 

and a Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus Lobatus)… 

Several online sources suggested that in 1838, Mary joined her brother-in-law, William Davison, at his gun shop in Newcastle, after filing for bankruptcy, but I was not able to confirm this.  By 1841, no Davison’s are listed as gun makers or smiths within Alnwick, according to Robinson’s Directory for Northumberland.  The only gunmaker listed in the town is George Snowdon, who still had a property in Narrowgate.  By 1887, in Bulmer’s History and Directory of Northumberland, only the Hardy Bros. of Fenkle Street are noted as gun makers. 

The last mention we found of Mary was her death in 1847, reported in the Durham Chronicle on 26 February: 

…in Prudhoe-street, 18th, aged 66, much respected, 

Mary, relict of the late Mr. George Davison, gun- 

maker, of Alnwick and Newcastle… 

Today, examples of guns made by George Davison are preserved within the Royal Armouries at Leeds, as well as within private collections. 

One caveat that I must include is that Mary Davison probably wasn’t what we would recognise as a gun “maker”.  We know that she took on the business after her husband’s death, but it is highly unlikely she would have actually “made” the guns.  This task could have been carried out by Snowdon, and when he left the business, there could have been another apprentice who took on that role.  Or the guns could have been bought in and the Davison name engraved upon them.  Mary’s business would likely have consisted of buying and selling, perhaps with onsite workmen carrying out small scale manufacture or repair – the premises on Market Street may have contained a small workshop area for this practice.  So there is no evidence of Mary making guns herself but, unless we go and visit the premises in a time machine, we will never know for certain.  & I quite like the picture I have in my mind of Mary donning her leather apron and getting down to a bit of metalwork… 

Within the collection of William Davison, the famous Alnwick printer, we have some printers’ proofs that relate to George Davison, Gun-Maker, of Alnwick.  As someone who has spent a lot of their life in and around Alnwick, I couldn’t recall hearing of Mr. George Davison, and decided to delve a little further.  When I googled George and read that his second wife, Mary Anderson, was also described as a gun maker, my interest in the Davison’s was well and truly cemented, and I needed to know more. 

After again using the tried and tested historical research method of Googling, I discovered that George Davison was the son of Thomas Davison and Isabel Forrest of Wooler.  I have been able to find the marriage of Thomas and Isabella in the records of Wooler St. Mary [ref. EP 33/3], but could not find a baptism of a George Davison that would provide evidence of his parents being Thomas and Isabella.  At the moment, this link remains unsubstantiated. 

The internet also carried the tale that Thomas Davison was a cutler who later became a gunsmith in Alnwick, and that George, as Thomas’ oldest son, took over the gunsmith business from his father; again, this is unsubstantiated in the research that I have carried out. 

On 7 December 1805, George Davison, bachelor, and Margaret Bilton, spinster, were married at Alnwick St. Michael’s by Licence [ref. EP 132/8].  When Margaret died in 1815, aged only 31 years, the couple were living in the Market Place in Alnwick.  George re-married in 1817 to a Mary Anderson, spinster, again at Alnwick St. Michael’s. 

In July 1820, Davison’s 19 year old apprentice, George Snowdon, ran away from the premises, and we have a printers proof in the collection that gives a description of Snowdon and the reward offered. 

Using the British Newspaper Archive, I found several adverts relating to George’s business, that spanned several newspapers, right across the north-east.  One advert in the Durham County Advertiser on Saturday 21 August 1824 read: 

TO GUN-MAKERS 

Wanted immediately, a good Workman in the above line; good encouragement and constant employ will be given, by applying to George Davison, Newcastle and Alnwick 

N.B.  An Apprentice wanted at the Newcastle shop. Pilgrim-street, Newcastle, August 19th, 1824 

This backed up the claims I had read online that Davison had premises in the Market Place in Alnwick, as well as within Newcastle. 

A theft occurred from Davison’s shop in July 1825, when a pair of twisted copper cap double gun barrels were stolen from the Alnwick shop.  The notice of the theft was printed by William Davison, on behalf of the Alnwick Parish Association and George Davison, who were both contributing to a seven guinea reward (about £86 in todays’ money). 

In 1826, a notice placed in the Tyne Mercury, as well as other newspapers, reads: 

GEORGE DAVISON 

GUN-MAKER, Pilgrim-Street, Newcastle, and Alnwick. Has great pleasure in informing his Sporting Friends, that the improvement he has lately made in his PERCUSSION POWDER renders it equally harmless to the gun as common gunpowder, and which he warrants certain fire and water-proof. 

An extensive assortment of DOUBLE and SINGLE COPPER- CAPPED GUNS, with the latest improvements, and of superior workmanship, on sale at his shops as above. Pilgrim-street, July 21, 1826 

The Durham County Advertiser reports the death of George Davison in their issue on Saturday 24 March 1827, having occurred ‘Saturday last’, and note that he was a ‘…gunmaker, of Alnwick and Newcastle, aged 44.’  It is interesting to note than an Alnwick gunmaker’s death was reported as widely as Durham – I did find mention of the event in several newspapers of the time – and suggests that he was a well-known character in shooting circles. 

To be continued……

A project began earlier this year to add descriptive content to documents held at Northumberland Archives relating to the Lord Crewe Charity; this has been made possible by a grant the charity itself made to the Northumberland Archives Charitable Trust.

The description read “File of miscellaneous insurance policies”; so, to be perfectly honest I wasn’t expecting it to be the most interesting of bundles.  I am happy to report that I was proven wrong!

The various policies relate to those connected with the running of the Haydon Bridge estate covering the period 1892-1925; they give us a great insight into life at that time.  For those researching family history or the history of a house we can see names of tenants, the extent of land and the value the policy provider attributed to it.

Many of the policy types will be familiar to the modern eye such as insurance for motor cars, life assurance, employers’ liability, theft and even boiler insurance.  Some, less so.  Many of the policies related to fire policies taken out to protect specified haystacks and sheds.  Aircraft insurance taken out in 1916 made payment if the named insured property was ‘destroyed or damaged directly or indirectly by aerial craft (hostile or otherwise)’.  A riot and civil commotion policy taken out in 1920 conveys a sense of fear post-WW1; the property insured was ‘pigs and poultry only’, the policy for “riot, civil commotion, strikers, locked-out workers or persons taking part in labour disturbances”.

Even the policies that did seem familiar are vastly different to today’s equivalent; employers’ liability related to domestic servants, providing a list of the number and description of those employed, e.g., indoor servants, coachmen, governesses and footmen.  Motor car insurance was a great excuse to look up early vehicles that were unfamiliar to me.  The last thing to note is how ornate some of these insurance policy headers are as you can see from the images.