John Brett Davey was born in the March quarter of 1918 (Northwich Vol. 8a Page 365) the only son of Lt-Col.Charles William Brett & Patricia Davey (nee Ollier).
Charles William Brett Davey & Pattie Ollier had married in 1911 in St Michael & All Angels Church, Middlewich.
Pattie Ollier had been born in Kinderton, Cheshire and her Baptism was at the Parish Church on the 9th November 1879, her parents were Thomas & Martha Ollier, and Thomas was an Engineer.
I believe that Thomas and Martha had married on the 10th June 1878, Thomas was 24, a bachelor and an Engineer, his father was John Ollier and a Cooper. Martha Walker was 31 and a spinster, her father was Ralph Walker and a Wheelwright.
Charles William Brett Davey had been born in the March Quarter of 1883 in West Ham to Charles Henry & Ellen Davey, he was baptised on the 14th April 1883 his father was a Chemist and their abode was Woodford Green, Essex.
The 1901 census see Charles William Brett Davey living with his family at 303, Victoria Park Road, South-East Hackney, Hackney, London. His father Charles Henry, 41 was a Chemical Manufacturer and an Employer, born Bow, London, his wife Ellen, 40 had been born in Ware, Herfordshire, Charles William Brett was 18, Allen Davey, his brother was 12 and had been born in Victoria Park, London. There was a General servant, Sarah A. Champion, single and 26, born in Hodderden, Hertfordshire.
That same census in 1901 sees Pattie Ollier, 21 as a Hospital Nurse at the Albert Infirmary*, Wharton, Cheshire, she had been born in Middlewich, Cheshire.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Joseph_Verdin,_1st_Baronet
Albert Infirmary (formerly Highfield House, the home of The Verdin Family) (Opened in 1898, 3 years before Patricia (Pattie) became a nurse there.)
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/f83d52b8-efdc-4a17-8ead-847b0c76c942 ALBERT INFIRMARY, Winsford
Also
https://www.cheshireimagebank.org.uk/frontend.php?action=zoom&keywords=Ref_No_increment;MATCHES;(%5E%7C%20+)c08571($%7C%20+)&continueUrl=ZnJvbnRlbmQucGhwPyZhY3Rpb249c2VhcmNoJnBhZ2U9NjM0 – Cheshire Image Bank – Shows photographs of Albert Infirmary Operating Theatre, Wharton.
On the 1911 census, living at Lime Villas, Sutton Lane, Middlewich, Cheshire, was Pattie’s family, Thomas Ollier, 56, was head of the household, a Stationary Engine Driver, Chemical Manuf. (Alkali) (Worker), his wife Martha, 62 tells us that they had been married 32 years and 3 children had been born to the, but 2 died. Pattie Ollier, 30, was single and a Hospital Nurse, they had all been born in Middlewich, Cheshire. A boarder by the name of Charles William Brett Davey, age 28 and an Engineer, Chemical Manufacturers (Worker) had been born in Middlewich, Cheshire. The 1911 census was the first census where the householder had to fill in the details, so I think that it was a clerical error of Thomas’s that Charles’s correct birthplace was not entered. So, I believe that, perhaps, that was how Charles William Brett Davey and Pattie Ollier met and eventually married.
The 1921 census, which was taken on the 19th of June 1921, shows some of the family living at Cheetham’s Flat, Station Road, Tidworth* and Kathleen M. Davey, who had been born in 1912 was missing. Charkes William Brett Davey was head of the household and now age 37 years and 6 moths, he had been born in Woodford Essex and was a Lieutenant in H.M. Army: Inspector Ordinance Machinery, R.A.O.C. Workshops, Tidworth. Pattie Davey was 39 years and 8 months old and doing ‘Home Duties.’ John Brett Davey was 3 years and 4 months old and had been born in Middlewich, Cheshire.
*Tidworth – Garrison town in south-east Wiltshire, England
Kathleen Mary Davey is seen living as a Boarder at the residence of Amy Elizabeth Reynolds, 6, Western Road, Andover. I believe she was at a private boarding school; this shows her living with other young girls. This does not state who is head of the household, indeed Amy Elizabeth Reynolds is not listed. Minora Molly Edge was 13 years old and had been born in Darlington. Kathleen Mary Davey was 8 years old and had been born in Middlewich, Hilda Stoddart was 18 years old and born in Kensington, Vera Russell was 8 years old, born in London, all the children had both parents alive. Another boarder, Phyllis Hastings Allen was 22 years old, single, born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and a teacher on her own account at High School, Andover. There was a Servant, Lilian Chalk, 22 years, and 6 months old, single, born in Fosbury, Hants and a Domestic Servant at the High School, Andover. So was this establishment the High School, Andover?
Charles William Brett Davey, enlists at some point in the Army Ordnance Corps, as he is in Italy in WW1, his Medal Card shows he was a Lieutenant and I.O.M. Later he is seen in the UK, Mechanical Engineer Records, 1847-1938 – Register – he is 40 and in the Mechanical Institute, joining on the 16th of February 1923. His workplace address on this was the R.O.A.C. Workshops, Tidworth, Hants.
The Electoral Register for 1931 show that Charles Henry & Ellen Davey were living at 14, Mouchy Road, Bovington Camp, Dorset, then in 1933/1934 they were at 33, Wetherby Road, Barkston Ash, West Yorkshire.
However, at some point the Davey family moved to Hawarden as on the 1939 National Register, taken on the 29th of September 1939, they are living at The Old Parsonage, Hawarden, Flintshire. This source gives us the dates of birth. Patricia Davey was born on the 27th of October 1879 and as most women who did not have a job, she was described as doing “Unpaid Domestic Duties.” Their daughter Kathleen M. Davey had been born on the 12th of September 1912; she was single and had no occupation. The other occupant was stated to be Charles William Brett Davey, born on the 20th of January 1883, he was a Major, Regular Army, R.O.A.C., but this was all crossed out and I can only presume that he had been recalled as war broke out on the 3rd of September 1939. Also in the household was Pattie’s father Thomas Ollier, who had been born on the 20th June 1854, he was a widower and retired.
Sadly I have no records for John Brett Davey for his early and teen years, but suspect he too joined the Army, as he had succeeded to the rank of Acting Lieutenant by 1944. Any information would be gratefully received.
However we do know he was in the 7th Bn. Cheshire Regiment when they were posted to Italy, please read:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino_order_of_battle_January_1944
Battle of Monte Cassino order of battle January 1944
The 7th Bn. Cheshire Regiment (Machine Guns) were in the 5th UK Infantry Division.svg British 5th Infantry Division (Major-General Gerald Bucknall to 22 January then Major-General P. G. S. Gregson-Ellis[1])
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204642
THE BRITISH ARMY IN ITALY 1944
File:Men of the 7th Cheshire Regiment, 5th Infantry Division’s machine gun battalion, in a captured German communications trench during the offensive at Anzio, Italy, 22 May 1944. NA15298.jpg
Excerpt from the Commonwealth War Graves Citation for John:-
History Information
On 3 September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. Allied objectives were to draw German troops from the Russian front and more particularly from France, where an offensive was planned for the following year. Progress through southern Italy was rapid despite stiff resistance, but by the end of October, the Allies were facing the German winter defensive position known as the Gustav Line, which stretched from the river Garigliano in the west to the Sangro in the east. Initial attempts to breach the western end of the line were unsuccessful and it was not until 17 January 1944 that the Garigliano was crossed, and Minturno taken two days later. The site for the cemetery was chosen in January 1944, but the Allies then lost some ground and the site came under German small-arms fire. The cemetery could not be used again until May 1944 when the Allies launched their final advance on Rome and the US 85th and 88th Divisions were in this sector. The burials are mainly those of the heavy casualties incurred in crossing the Garigliano in January.
John Brett Davey in the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 –
DAVEY, John Brett of Bushcombe Farm, Woodmancote near Cheltenham died 25th January 1944 on War Service. Administration (with Will) Llandudno 11th July to Patricia DAVEY (Wife of Charles William Brett DAVEY).
Charles W B Davey in the UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 – shows us that both Charles & Pattie were on a ship, the “Venus,” returning from Madeira and arriving at Plymouth on the 21st of February 1956. So his mother Pattie was still alive in 1956,
I cannot find his mother Pattie’s death, sadly she was alive to suffer John’s loss. His sister Katherine Mary Davey was to marry John Wellesley Cunnah in the September quarter of 1941 at St Bridget’s Church, Chester. (Cheshire West CE60/5/22).
His father Charles Henry Davey died on the 18th of April 1979 in Wells, Somerset – his probate – DAVEY, Charles William Brett of The Old School, Dinder, Wells, Somerset died 18th April 1979. Probate Birmingham 10th July.
Henry Leslie FOX, who is also on the War Memorial, was on the same page on the 1939 National Registers, so John Brett and Henry Leslie lived a few doors away from each other.
John Brett DAVEY died in Italy and his father, Charles William Brett DAVEY’s, first Theatre of War in WW1 was Italy when he entered it in February 1918, when in fact, John Brett was near to being born or had been born as his birth is registered in the March Quarter of 1918.
John Brett Davey was loved and missed by his family, he was their only son, and they added his name to the WW2 War Memorial to make sure he was remembered for perpetuity.
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