DAVIE, Henry William Wilson

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Henry William Wilson Davie was born in Barnstaple, Devon, in the second quarter of 1871. His father, James Headon Davie, was a saddler (as was his grandfather) who ran a business in The Square in Barnstaple. James and his wife Annie (née Wilson) had five children, of which Harry was the eldest.

Harry Davie graduated from the Royal Veterinary College on 12 May 1893 and registered as a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He returned to Devon and set up a successful veterinary practice in Crediton. In 1897, he married Mary Elizabeth Copp. They had a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Edith, and the family lived at The Green in Crediton with Mary’s nephew, William Abberley Copp.

Following the outbreak of war, Harry Davie was contracted to provide a veterinary service in Devon to support the Army Remount Service’s purchase of horses. In 1915, he left his veterinary practice when he received an appointment to provide care for mules and horses purchased in North America on the trans-Atlantic crossings.

The rapid expansion of the Army had resulted in an equally rapid expansion of the establishment for horses, particularly draft animals.] That, in turn, demanded an increase in the number of veterinary surgeons supporting the war effort. Requirements were first met by engaging local veterinary surgeons at civil rates of pay, but ’later it was found necessary to grant temporary commissions in the Army Veterinary Corps to practically all veterinary surgeons, whether employed in the United Kingdom or overseas’. It appears, however, that the veterinary surgeons employed to care for animals being transported by sea were civilians recruited both from the United Kingdom and from the United States and Canada. Harry Davie was employed amongst this group.

The purchase of horses and mules in North America was a huge effort. The British Remount Commission was established in Montreal and commanded initially by Major General Sir Frederick Benson KCB. Remount stockyards were established first in Canada and later in the United States—initial fears that the United States neutrality would prevent buying horses there proved unfounded. Once purchased, the horses were moved by rail to stockyards at one of the ports used by the Commission on the Atlantic seaboard.

The Remount Commission’s efforts made it impossible to achieve and sustain the British Army’s establishment for remounts. By 11 November 1918, the Commission had shipped 428,608 horses and 275,097 mules. By contrast, by 31 March 1920, horse purchases in the United Kingdom totalled 468,323.

Harry Davie had crossed the Atlantic many times as a veterinarian officer. His first journeys were on the converted cattle ship SS Russian , accompanied by a team of horsemen and muleteers and, on occasion, an assistant veterinary surgeon. In early November 1915, Harry Davie was in Newport News, having been appointed as the veterinarian officer for the SS Orthia, which was due to leave the port bound for the United Kingdom with a cargo of horses and mules.

On Wednesday, 10 November 1915, Harry Davie disappeared. When news of his disappearance became known, there was speculation in the press that he had ‘met with foul play’. His family was notified by telegram by the British vice-consul and, as police enquiries were made, ‘wild rumours (sic)…began to go the rounds’.

Two weeks later, on Tuesday, 23 November, his partly decomposed body was found floating in the James River near the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway coal piers at the foot of 18th Street. The body was taken to the morgue of the undertaker William E. Rouse on 25th Street where it was examined at 5.00pm that evening by the coroner, Dr Henry F. James Jr. When no signs of violence were identified, and cash to the value of $24.50 and a valuable watch were found in his clothing, the coroner recorded that: ‘I examined the body of Dr Harry Davey (sic) and the evidence causal to his death showing as accidental drowning on Nov. 23, 1915’.[11] It was speculated in the press that he had fallen off one of the piers in the area while out walking.

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