Jamie Scott was in touch recently seeking some information
about his great grandfather, George Anthony Davison who he believed played for
Coventry City in the years preceding World War One. Jamie did have
information on his relative’s First World War career though.
With the help of fellow City historians Martin and Paul
O’Connor and Stephen Byrne I was able to give Jamie some details about his
great-grandfather. According to the birth, deaths and marriages information
there was a George Alexander Davison born in 1890 in Tynemouth, near Newcastle.
If this is him (which seems more than probable), it would suggest that the
entry in the 1891 census is also him: aged one, living at 21 Stoney Row,
Wallsend, with his parents William Albert Davison (37, carpenter, born London)
and Mary Eleanor Davison (19, born Northumberland). I have asked the family if
this tallies with their account, as it might clear up the confusion with the
middle name.
Before joining Coventry City in the close season of 1913
Davison had played for North East side
Bedlington United, Watford and Blyth Spartans. He played just one season for
City and made 38 appearances in their Southern League side, scoring 18 goals
plus one FA Cup game (and one goal). He was leading scorer for the club that
season but could not stop City being relegated to Southern League Division Two.
Apparently he had been a 'prolific' scorer for Blyth before his arrival at Highfield Road. In his penultimate game he scored a hat-trick against Watford.
In the summer of 1914 he joined Bristol Rovers and continued to score goals in Southern League Division One netting 20 goals in 57 games.
Apparently he had been a 'prolific' scorer for Blyth before his arrival at Highfield Road. In his penultimate game he scored a hat-trick against Watford.
In the summer of 1914 he joined Bristol Rovers and continued to score goals in Southern League Division One netting 20 goals in 57 games.
Jamie, who despite being born in the North East now lives in
Coventry, takes up the story:
‘After moving to Bristol Rovers George joined the Durham
Light Infantry and at some stage went to the Western Front, where he was
wounded at the Battle of the Somme. He got caught by some shrapnel, which
injured one of his legs, with worse damage being averted by a 1915 penny in his
trousser pocket which deflected some of it. My mother still has the penny which
is bent in half and has a hole plumb in the middle of it. This explains why he
dropped out of professional football after the war but continued to play.
My granny told me a story of how, when she was a small
child she was in the crowd at a match – she’s not sure if it was at Coventry or
Bristol Rovers. She was in her mother’s arms and was waving her arms
about and knocked the hat off a man in front of her. The chap got nasty and
George jumped into the crowd and chinned him. An early Cantona?
Interestingly, my father was an exceptional keeper and
apparently got offered a contract by Tottenham when he was in the Royal
Marines, but declined. He played in an inter-forces cup competition and claimed
to concede only one goal, a penalty in the final, and got his nose popped by
his captain for letting the side down. My oldest nephew was a schoolboy
with Forest, but now opens bat for Yorkshire CC and England Lions ( wearing
Michael Vaughan's which he gave him when he retired as he grew up with their
dad in Sheffield), and his younger brother has a place at the M.C.C. academy
starting in the coming season. Joe and Billy Root. Keep an eye out for them.
Unfortunately, it seems that the gene pool saved all the good ones up for the
lads as I am the clumsiest, most dyspraxic unco-ordinated idiot you've ever
met. There you go.’
After the war he must have moved back to the North East as
he is recorded as playing for West Stanley FC, a now defunct club who played in
the Northern League.
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