David Elisha Davy (1769–1851) was an English antiquary and collector from

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

Life

He was the son of a farmer at

Rumburgh Rumburgh is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is north-west of the market town of Halesworth in the East Suffolk District. The population of the parish at the 2011 United Kingdom census was 327. The village is ce ...

, Suffolk, and the nephew of Eleazar Davy of

Yoxford Yoxford is a village in East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk, England, close to the Heritage Coast, Minsmere Reserve (RSPB), Aldeburgh and Southwold. It is known for its antique shops and (as "Loxford") for providing the setting for a Benjamin ...

. Eleazar was locally prominent as Lord High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1770 and acquired some local position by the marriage of his stepdaughter with Sir John Rous. David Elisha Davy was born in 1769, and was educated at Yoxford under Samuel Forster. He entered

Pembroke Hall, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

, where he took his B.A. degree as sixth senior optime in 1790; he was ordained as deacon in 1792. In 1803, on the death of his uncle Eleazar, Davy succeeded to his estate, and then took up residence at Yoxford, where he became a magistrate and receiver-general of the county. After 1815 Davy's estates were taken into possession by

Gurney's Bank Gurney's bank was a family-run bank founded by members of the Gurney family in 1770 and headquartered in Norwich, England. It merged into Barclays Bank in 1896. History The bank was founded in 1770 by John and Henry Gurney, sons of John Gurney ...

as security for advances made by them; but they were restored to the owner a few years before his death. Leaving Yoxford, Davy resided at Ufford near

Woodbridge Woodbridge may refer to: Places Australia *Woodbridge, Western Australia formerly called ''West Midland'' *Woodbridge, Tasmania Canada *Woodbridge, Ontario England *Woodbridge, Suffolk, the location of **Woodbridge (UK Parliament constituency ...

, and devoted himself to genealogical and antiquarian studies.

Death and legacy

Davy died unmarried and intestate at Ufford on 15 August 1851, at the age of eighty-two. His estate went to his sister, the widow of William Barlee, rector of Wrentham, Suffolk, and at her death devised in accordance with the provisions of the will of Eleazar Davy. He was buried in St Peter's Church at

; a memorial plaque lies on the east wall of the nave. Davy's Suffolk manuscripts were purchased by the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

in 1852. They now form

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

Add MS 19077 to 19207, and include genealogical histories of Suffolk families, collections for the lives of Suffolk writers ("Athenæ Suffolcenses"), a number of volumes of "Illustrative Drawings" (Add MS 19176 to 19181), and a volume of "Arms of Suffolk Families" (Add MS 19159).

Works

About 1803 Davy began to collect materials for a history of Suffolk, with a friend, Henry Jermyn of

Sibton Sibton is a village and civil parish on the A1120 road, in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district, in the English county of Suffolk. It is near the towns of Saxmundham and Halesworth, the village of Peasenhall and the hamlet of Sibto ...

, barrister-at-law. In 1806 they copied manuscripts of the topographer

Robert Hawes The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

. Jermyn died in 1820, and his Suffolk manuscripts were bought by Herbert Gurney, and presented to the British Museum in 1830. They now form British Library Add MS 8168–8196. Davy continued to add to his collection up to his death, without any idea of publication. Davy wrote anonymously the descriptive text for three volumes of works by the artist

Henry Davy Henry Davy (1793–1865) was an English landscape painter, engraver and lithographer active in East Anglia. Davy was born on 30 May 1793 in The Poplars, which is now Birketts Farm, on Westhall Common, near Halesworth, Suffolk. He was the tent ...

. He published ''A short Account of Leiston Abbey'' as D. E. D. (with descriptive and illustrative verses by B. Barton and W. Fletcher, edited by J. Bird, 1823). Under the signature D. A. Y., Davy was a frequent contributor to the ''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term '' ...

''. To the ''Topographer and Genealogist'' he contributed a series of notices of sepulchral monuments in Suffolk churches.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Davy, David Elisha 1769 births 1851 deaths English antiquarians People from Waveney District