Edward Henry Meggs Davis (18 August 1846, in Galway – 6 October 1929) was a Royal Navy captain, then admiral, who served in the

Cape of Good Hope Station The Commander-in-Chief, Africa was the last title of a Royal Navy's formation commander located in South Africa from 1795 to 1939. Under varying titles, it was one of the longest-lived formations of the Royal Navy. It was also often known as the C ...

Pacific Station The Pacific Station was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast o ...

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...

and the Jamaica Division.

Life and career

He served in the Naval Brigade at the

Bombardment of Kagoshima The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract ...

, Japan, from 15 to 17 August 1863, which was part of the Shimonoseki campaign (1863–64), and at the storming of the stockade at

Shimonoseki file:141122 Shimonoseki City Hall Yamaguchi pref Japan01s3.jpg, 260px, Shimonoseki city hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 248,193 in 128,762 households and a pop ...

in September 1864. Davis was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1870. In 1877-78, he served in the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

with the Naval Brigade in the ninth and final frontier war against the Xhosa armies, In 1878, he was promoted to the rank of Commander, for his services. He also served in the Naval Brigade in the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in present-day South Africa from January to early July 1879 between forces of the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Two famous battles of the war were the Zulu victory at Battle of Isandlwana, Isandlwana and th ...

in 1879. Davis was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1887 and was given command of HMS ''Royalist''. In September 1891. The ''Royalist'' was sent to punished a village of the

Kalikoqu The Kalikoqu are an ethnic Melanesians, Melanesian tribe who are concentrated in the New Georgia island of the Solomon Islands. Prior to History of colonialism, European colonization, they resided in the eastern side of the western Roviana languag ...

tribe in the Roviana Lagoon, southern side of

New Georgia New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province (Solomon Islands), Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the List of islands by area, 203rd-largest island in the world. Since July 1978, the island has been par ...

in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, following a murder of a trader; the sailors shot some of the men who were believed to be the leaders, set fire to the village and destroyed canoes. The ''Royalist'' conducted a survey in 1891–92, visiting:

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...

and

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

(10 December 1889 to 18 June 1891);

Territory of Papua The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the ...

and

British Solomon Islands The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first established in June 1893, when Captain Herbert Gibson of declared the southern Solomon Islands a British protectorate.''Commonwealth and Colonial Law'' by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, S ...

(18 June 1891 to 9 April 1892); and

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands (;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this name applied o ...

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

and

Ellice Islands Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

(14 April 1892 to 30 August 1892). On 27 May 1892, Captain Davis proclaimed the

to be a

British Protectorate British protectorates were protectorates under the jurisdiction of the British government. Many territories which became British protectorates already had local rulers with whom the Crown negotiated through treaty, acknowledging their status wh ...

. Captain Davis reported that in the Ellice Islands, requests were made to him to hoist the British flag on the islands, however he did not have any orders regarding such a formal act. In the 1894 New Year Honours, he received the C.M.G. "for services connected with certain islands in the Western Pacific." He was appointed in command of HMS ''Royal Sovereign'' in 1897, and was assigned to the

. He was appointed in command of HMS ''Howe'' in 1898, which was a port guardship at Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland. He was the Commodore on Jamaica Division from February 1900 to May 1901. He promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 8 June 1905, then at his request he retired later that month. In 1908, he advanced to the rank of Admiral on the Retired List.

References

Sources

* "Admiral E. H. M. Davis" (Obituaries). ''The Times''. Monday, 7 October 1929. Issue 45327, col B, p. 16.
The Dreadnought Project
article 1846 births 1929 deaths Royal Navy admirals {{UK-navy-bio-stub