FROM THE CHAIRMANOur monthly members’ meetings at theInstitute are always well attended,numbers rarely falling much below 60and on occasions reaching 70 or more.I’m sure you will agree these gatheringsare key to the survival of the Society, avital part of our social calendar, and thetrustees are grateful for your continuedsupport. The AGM has always beenconsidered the highlight of the year,when members have made a specialeffort to be present – why do I raisethis? Because attendance at this year’sAGM was, by comparison,disappointing. Constitutionally, we areobliged to hold an annual generalmeeting, so it is up to your committeeto ensure that it holds an attraction forthe membership. We are alreadyworking on agenda improvements fornext year, and this is where we turn toyou for ideas – how would you like tosee your AGM run in future. Proposalsto the editor please, by post or onotteryheritage@googlemail.com

Maintaining the quality and variety ofour meetings depends on engaging wellqualified speakers, not the easiest ofjobs. We are very pleased to announcethe appointment of a new MeetingsOrganiser, Sylvia Wainwright who, I’mdelighted to report, has already ‘graspedthe nettle’ and completed the Speakers’list for the year 2011. Welcome aboard!Invitations are now being distributed forthe Coleridge Anniversary Lunch at theTumbling Weir Hotel, SaturdayOctober 23rd. You will know from past

years that tickets are limited, and I urgemembers to book early before details ofthe event are released to the media. Ourspeaker this year will be Nick PruceMA. He tells us his early exposure toColeridge’s complex thinking, hispoetry and imagination may haveunderpinned his decision to studyEnglish Literature at King’s College,Cambridge.

Through his travels, Nick haddeveloped an interest in the Islamicworld, and embarked on a degree inArabic and Persian. Having retired froma career in teaching, he hopes that someof his knowledge and enthusiasm hasrubbed off on the next generation. Hehas since been involved in historicalresearch for the National Trust and forsite­specific theatre projects, as well asspending a great deal of time in theColeridge section of the UniversityLibrary. (So make sure you’re there –book now!)

Finally, many of you will already havelearned of the sad news about one ofour Society members, Cynthia Coley,who passed away in June after a longillness; she will be remembered for herdedicated work for the community, theparish church and her involvement witha number of charities. Our sincerecondolences to husband Richard,children and grandchildren in their sadloss.

Robert Neal

Journal of the Ottery St. Mary Heritage Society

No 35

Winter 2010

Price 50p

Including...

Edward Davy's place inhistory assured

Nelson Owen in hisown write

Letters and articles for publicationin the Journal can be sent to

otteryheritage@googlemail.com

British Resistance in WW2

EditorialI was recently asked to help out with a campaign taking place in EastSussex to pay tribute to the sacrifice in lives of Bomber Command crewsduring World War 2. The driving force of this Campaign is Jo Williams, adynamic 88 year­old ex tail­gunner whose wartime flying career has beenrecounted in a short, as yet unpublished, booklet.

His aim is to raise enough money to set up a memorial on Beachy Head asa reminder that less than half the 110,000 serving airman returned fromtheir missions and Beachy Head would have been the last they ever saw ofhome. That is a worthy aim indeed but what struck me particularly was thepower and immediacy of his account of what it is like to be shot down inflames and to bail out into the darkness over enemy territory, in fear ofyour life.

The value of local personal testimony in bringing history alive isinestimable. In this edition Nelson Owen has set out an entertainingsummary of his Ottery days, and in the next edition, Frank Shepperd tellsus about his family's involvement in the two world wars ­ a story whichhighlights particularly the realities of Edwardian life ­ the prominence ofEmpire, the duty to serve in warime, and the sacrifices that so manyfamilies had to make.

I hope more Ottregians will scour their attics and photo albums forglimpses of times long past in and around the area. I am always ready tolisten to a good story.

The Coleridge Memorial Project now has a website ­www.coleridgememorial.org.uk (looking very much like the HeritageSocieties own website) where you can find news of progress ­ and there isplenty of it ­ unfortunately much of it too late for this edition. Suggest youwatch the Gazette in the meantime.

A change in appearance of this edition is the result of a sudden, unwelcomecollapse of my IT set up, forcing a resort to untried and unfamiliar sofware.Apologies if the altered look is unsettling ­ I hope all will be back tonormal before the next edition

Chris Wakefield

Forthcoming Events

Unless otherwise noted, all the Society'smeetings are held in the Institute, YonderStreet, Ottery St. Mary.

2010• September 21st (Tuesday) 7.30 pmMurders in DevonA graphic account of some of Devon’s mostnotorious crimesSpeaker: Simon Dell OBE

• October 19th (Tuesday) 7.30 pmOttery’s Tar BarrelsAn illustrated talk on the history of this unique andancient customSpeaker: Andy Wade

• October 23rd (Saturday) 12.30 pm (for 1.00 pm)Coleridge Anniversary LunchTumbling Weir HotelSpeaker: Nick Pruce MA

• November 16th (Tuesday) 7.30 pmLife, Death & Taxes in medieval OtteryAn illustrated talk on the everyday lives of medievalOttregiansSpeaker: Chris Wakefield

2011• January 11th (Tuesday) 7.30 pmCarthorses to ComputersThe Story of farming in the 20th century.Speaker: Colin Pady

• February 15th (Tuesday) 7.30 pmThe Construction of Mediaeval RoofsAn illustrated talk from the viewpoint of acarpenterSpeaker: Simon Lowne

• March 15th (Tuesday) 7.30 pmMills in the Devon LandscapeAn illustrated talk on the history and technologyof millingSpeaker: Martin Watts

• 19 April (Tuesday) 7.30pmAdventures in the Wine IndustryA wide ranging view oveer the wine industrySpeaker: David Bond

Heritage Society Trustees

Hon Chairman Robert Neal 813686Hon Secretary Chris Saunders 812962Hon Treasurer Jim Woolley 812176

Hazel Abley 814750John Pilsworth 812737Chris Wakefield 815262Betty Williams 814044Oliver Wilson 813021

Co­opted membersMembership Sec.Judy Mullinger 813019Meetings SecretarySylvia Wainwright 813041

Articles or letters can be emailed to the Journalatotteryheritage@googlemail.com

www.otteryheritage.org.uk2

AGM AUCTIONThose of you who attended the recentAGM will remember the auction heldafter the close of business. Vaughan andAngela Glanville of the Ark Pottery atWiggaton had generously donated twopieces of their pottery, to be used as theTrustees felt appropriate, in order toaugment the Museum Fund. An auctionwas deemed best, and brisk biddingresulted in the sum of £44 (gross andnet ­ no commission was taken!) beingadded to the Fund.

The Trustees would like to thankmembers Linda Shand and PamelaBaker­Clare for their spiritedcontributions to a good cause.

Chris Saunders

The British Resistance Movement Unit atBendarroch during World War 2When the Second World War startedin 1939, Ann Sidebothom was livingwith her parents, Dr & Mrs FrancisSidebothom and her brothers Jimmyand Dick at Bendarroch, West Hill.In 1939, Ann was a 14 year old schoolgirl boarding at Sherbourne school.In 1943 she joined the WAF andmoved to RAF North Weald whereshe was a plotter for FighterCommand. Ann’s cousin, Gerty Hall(nee Traill) was also living with thefamily. She was married to Lt.GeorgeHall who was serving with the RoyalNavy overseas and was later killed inaction.

In 1940, when a German invasionbecame a serious possibility, WinstonChurchill decided to form a secretBritish resistance movement, calledthe Auxiliary Units, to carry onfighting, after the feared Naziinvasion. Colonel Colin Gubbins hadthe job of setting up and training thesehighly secret units throughout theUK. Gubbins was a regular BritishArmy soldier, who had acquired

considerable experience and expertisein guerrilla warfare, having recentlyreturned from Norway.

A secret underground radiocommunications station was set up atBendarroch, West Hill in 1940 as partof the network of the new AuxiliaryUnits. The location was“camouflaged” by it’s situationbeneath a hen house in a field behindBendarroch and situated in a smallunderground room, only about 6 footsquare, reached by a ladder fromground level. The room had a radiotransmitter that was used tocommunicate with the Army officerrunning the organisation locally a mancalled Rogers; further detailsunknown. The call sign of theBendarroch station was “GoldingOne” and Ann remembers helpingGerty Hall and sometimes her father,Dr Sidebothom, with thetransmissions from the station.

Dr Ralph Traill was a friend andpartner of Dr Sidebotham and he and

his wife Gladys lived at RidgewayHouse, Ottery St Mary. Plans weremade for them to carry intelligenceinformation from Ottery to the radiotransmitter at Bendarroch, West Hill,should an invasion take place. As thetelephone service would have beeneither out of action or unsafe, theywere to cross the fields from Ottery toWest Hill, under cover of darknessand without using the roads. Annremembers that this caused someamusement amongst the family.

To us today, 70 years later, this soundsvery much like “Dad’s Army” but ifthe Nazi invasion had been successful,the life expectancy of these resistancegroups was expected by the Army tobe on average no more than sevendays.

John PilsworthAnn Apthorp (nee Sidbothom)

Letters and articles for publicationin the Journal can be sent to

otteryheritage@googlemail.com

3

Man for OtteryThe Lifetime achievements of Nelson Owen ­ by himself

recently he has raised two holly treesbearing orange­coloured berries and namethis variety “Peach Haven”.

In line with his musical interests he haswritten songs and lyrics, issuing a cassette in1994. Many local artists took part inproducing this cassette. As a writer has hadhad numerous articles published in local andnational magazines.

On Christmas Day 2006 he completed 70years in maintaining an old custom inOttery known as the “NativityNightwatchman”. This custom starts atmidnight on Christmas Eve at the Chanter’sHouse. Nelson Rings his special bell andthen, reciting a nativity verse, follows withthe time and state of the weather. Theceremony is repeated at various locations inthe town, generally ending at 2.00 a.m.With the proclamation in 2005 at theChanter’s House he had performed thiscustom in front of five generations of theColeridge family. In 2008 theNightwatchman was welcomed by the newowners of Chanter’s House, Max and GraceNorris, thus continuing the traditional startof the ceremony. In 2009 the ceremony wasshortened due to the weather conditions ­Nelson and his assistant Chris used a car.”

Ed’s Footnote: I am advised that it only in thecurrent year that Nelson reluctantly decided that ithas become necessary to hand over responsibilityfor the role of Nativity Nightwatchman to ChrisSwindle, thus bringing to a close an amazingtenure spanning 73 years!

The resurrection and continuingobservance of some of the old customsand traditions in Ottery can beattributed to the determination andefforts of one man ­ Nelson Owen. Hehas directed much of his long life tothe good of the town, and it is largelythanks to this devotion that Ottery StMary can boast the observance of anumber of unique customs. They instila sense of pride in all Ottregians, andoffer newcomers and visitors alikeevents that can be entertaining,colourful, and sometimes evenexciting!

But let Nelson tell you in his own wordsabout his achievements and description ofsome of the customs that are observedtoday, and his role in putting Ottery StMary on the map in so many ways:

“At the age of fourteen he was a Choristerat the Church as well as a member of theBell Ringers, having achieved his certificatefor a Quarter Peal of Grandsire Doubles.

In 1945 he helped form the Drama Groupknown as the Ottery Players. Their firsttalented performance was a variety show.For 21 years they produced two three­actplays annually. Three large albumscontaining photographs, press cuttings andprogrammes of the 29 productions of three­act plays have been placed with the DevonRecords Office.

In 1950 he founded the Ottery St. MaryHandbell Ringers and was their MusicalDirector. He designed a special notationthat enabled all to ring handbells ­ eventhose without musical knowledge. Laterwith additional bells totalling 54 hedeveloped composite units with 4 to 8 bellsplayed with tappers. Many sound and TVperformances were made. His 50 years ofdedication ensured that the team was thebest in the Southwest, having created analbum and two cassettes. Three large albumscontaining photographs, press cuttings, andChristmas venues of the team have alsobeen placed with the Devon RecordsOffice.

Local history has recorded his five years of“Painting the Town Red”! In his youngeryears he went to great lengths to “entertain”the community (usually overnight) byderiding and upsetting the local authoritiesand dignitaries. The Dusty Creek episode,M1 and the April 1st Local Elections beingsome of the notable cases ­ as well as theGnomes’ Green Footprints on the first Pixie

Day. Many of these episodes were revealedin his book “Goings­on in the WestCountry” published in 2004.

Ottery’s great day is the celebration of GuyFawkes Gunpowder Plot on November 5theach year. The rolling and carrying offlaming Tar Barrels in crowded streets has tobe seen to be believed. In his younger daysNelson took part in this custom for 20 years.Allied to this he was responsible for revivingthe Firing of the Cannons in 1956. He made10 cannons which were tested at the ProofHouse. He has taken part until recently, andhas researched the origins of this customwhich goes back some 300 years. His book“History of a Devon Custom” published in2006 gives interesting data.

Over a two­year period in the 1960’s hedesigned and built (with additional labour)his own bungalow. Using new techniquesand materials such as thermal buildingblocks, plastic guttering, Canadianimpregnated timber and fibreglass watertank. He was well in advance of the thencurrent building procedures.

Ten years were spent during the 1970’s on aproject to save the Devon Tom Putt applefrom extinction. He also identified andsupplied hardwood cuttings of two oldDevon Apples ­ the Red Ribbed Greeningand the Plum Vitee ­ to the Brogdale Trust.These varieties have been approved for theNational Collection by the Imperial Collegeof Science at Wye.

He was actively involved in Clay Shootingfro several years. By the age of 12, his sonKerin had developed an outstanding skill atthis sport. Two years later, with constantguidance and practice, he switched to theInternational Forum ­ Olympic Trap, and atthe age of 18 Kerin shot for England in the1972 European Championship in Madrid.

In 1988 Nelson was awarded the SilverCross of St. George by the magazine “ThisEngland” for his devotion to the life andcustoms of Ottery St. Mary.

His interest in the countryside led him inthe 1990’s to discover a wild example of anew variety of variegated holly. This hollywas grown on, and has been accepted andregistered by the Holly Society of America,with the name ‘Golden Flamenco’. He hasgrown over 100 of these new cultivars,some have been given to the National Trustin many locations as well as local gardens inDevon. The development, propagation andregistration took some 10 years. More

Nelson in his young eighties

4

PORTRAIT OFCOLERIDGEAgatha Lloyd – Sister ofCharles Lloyd

Coleridge has been our guest since sixthday; he intends going to Grassmeretoday. He is too interesting a man tolive comfortably with a long time – hehas very strong affections, but in hisdomestic habits I do not wonder in hisbeing a very trying husband, unless hiswife could be so entirely absorbed in hismind as not to think of theinconvenience of being put out of herway in every day occurrences, whichafter all make up the great sum of ourlives. And I believe little attentions ofthat sort are and must be felt.

He is truly a wonderful man – hispowers of conversation and the richnessand extent of his mind are indeedextraordinary, and I only wish, by alittle more attention to system than toimpulse, he were more calculated toshine as a domestic character.

He has two interesting boys for whomhe has a most fatherly affection. Hartleyis a child to me painfully out of thecommon way both in mind andconstitution – should he live, poorfellow, he will be a most interestingcharacter, and I wish, as related hisparents, he were in more happycircumstances.

I have been going on without appearingto consider thee, but thou must excuseme. Southey was here for an hour onsixth day, and Wordsworth called; sothe three northern poets were all herethat day. This seems to be a land ofgenius, but I shall be very wellcontented to leave the genii of themountains for my dear friend at home .. .

WANTED : ACURE FORRHEUMATISMS T Coleridge to SirHumphry Davy, October 18,1800

My dear Davy,Our mountains northward end in themountain Carrock – one huge, steep,enormous bulk of stones, desolatelyvariegated with the heath plant. At itsfoot runs the river Calder, and a narrowvale between it and the mountainBowscale, so narrow that in its greatestwidth it is not more than a furlong. Butthat narrow vale is so green, sobeautiful, there are moods in which aman might weep to look at it.

On this mountain Carrock at thesummit of which are the last remains ofthe Druid Circle of stones, I waswandering, when a thick cloud cameon, and wrapped me in such darknessthat I could not see ten yards before me.And with the cloud a storm of wind andhail, and the like of which I had neverbefore seen and felt.

The darkness vanished as if byenchantment; far off, far, far off to thesouth, the mountains of Glaramara, theGreat Gable and their family appeareddistinct, in deepest, sablest, blue. I rose,and behind me was a rainbow bright asthe brightest.I descended by the side of a torrent, andpassed, or rather crawled (for I wasforced to descend on all fours) by manya naked waterfall, till fatigued andhungry (and with a finger almostbroken, and which remains swelled tothe size of two fingers), I reached thenarrow vale, and the single housenestled in ash and sycamores.

I entered to claim the universalhospitality of this country; but instead ofthe life and comfort usual in theselonely houses, I saw dirt, and everyappearance of misery, a pale womansitting by a peat fire. I asked her forbread and milk, and she sent a smallchild to fetch it, but did not rise herself.I ate very heartily of the black, sourbread, and drank a bowl of milk, andasked her to permit me to pay her.“Nay”, says she, “we are not so scant asthat – you are right welcome; but doyou know any help for the rheumatics,for I have been so long ailing that Ialmost fain to die?”

So I advised her to eat a great deal ofmustard, having seen in anadvertisement something about essenceof mustard curing the most obstinatecases of rheumatism. But do write me,and tell me some cure for therheumatism; it is in her shoulders, andthe small of her back chiefly. I wishmuch to go off with some bottles ofstuff to the poor creature. I should walkten miles as ten yards.

With love and honour, my dear DavyYours S T Coleridge.

Coleridge in the fleshRobert Neal has picked out these snippets of Coleridgeana as a reflection of the great man'swide appeal. Readers will be reminded that the Coleridge Memorial Project is in progressand if you have a favourite Coleridge story, you may like to submit it for inclusion in theProject's Proposed publication ­ "Coleridge Sauce", due in the winter of this year. Visitwww.coleridgememorial.org.uk for more information.

5

Edward Davy (1806 – 1885)Block Signalling PioneerChris Cock, SRS Corresponding Member, GE Principles & Practice

Ottregians have always felt thatDr Edward Davy had donesomething important, but thetechnicalities of his work andthe absence of readily accessiblerecords has dissuaded localhistorians from making a fullappraisal. We are fortunatethen, to be able to print thefollowing article by Chris Cock,which brings, at last, the eye ofa technology historian to bearon Davy’s work, and whichvindicates beyond doubt histechnical originality andforesight.

Research into early block signalling onthe Great Eastern Railway and itsconstituent companies inevitablyrequired an investigation of some earlydevelopments in electric telegraphy, notjust in East Anglia, but in Britain as awhole. As part of this investigation asearch of the archives of theEngineering Institutions was undertakenand, as the old saying goes, “one thingleads to another” which, in this case,was the discovery of the Edward DavyCollection in the IET (formerly IEE)Library in London. This collection ofpapers includes details of Davy’s earlywork on the development of a practicalelectric telegraph together withpreliminary arrangements for trials withvarious railway companies, negotiatedbefore those of Cooke & Wheatstone.William Fothergill Cooke is generallyregarded as the originator of the Blocksignalling principle but papers in theEdward Davy Collection show thatDavy had similar but morecomprehensive ideas several years beforeCooke. Davy, an ingenious inventorwho unfortunately lacked the necessaryentrepreneurial and business skills, failedto secure the necessary backing for hisinventions before publicallydemonstrating his telegraphs. Withmounting debts and a failing marriageDavy foolishly emigrated to Australiajust at the time he was on the verge ofsuccess. Davy’s unenthusiastic father, a

friend, and inept agents were left tocarry out the previously negotiatedrailway trials: all were unfamiliar withthe technicalities of Davy’s equipmentand the trials were abandoned.Surprisingly, Davy’s work appears tohave been completely overlooked byrailway historians but was welldocumented by telegraph historian JohnJoseph Fahie as long ago as 1884.Although Fahie clearly recognised theimportance of Davy’s ideas about whatwas later to be known as BlockSignalling, Fahie’s notes were alsodeposited in the IET Library and havebeen similarly overlooked by railwayhistorians.

Edward Davy, the eldest son ofphysician and surgeon Thomas Davyand his wife Elizabeth (née Boutflower)was born on 16th June, 1806 at OtterySt Mary in Devon. There is anecdotalevidence that the Davy family hadconnections with Sir Humphrey Davy,inventor of the miners’ safety lamp, andthat several family ancestors hadscientific backgrounds. Edward Davyinitially attended the local school inOttery St Mary but later moved to theschool of his maternal uncle in TowerStreet in London where he quicklydeveloped interests in science ingeneral, and in chemistry and electricityin particular. Following in his father’sfootsteps Edward Davy qualified as aphysician but was distracted by his otherscientific interests and was probably bestdescribed as a scientist and inventor.Davy earned his keep from running an

apothecary’s shop on the Strand inLondon, and in 1836 published “AnExperimental Guide To Chemistry”which included a seventeen­pagecatalogue of scientific instrumentsavailable for purchase, many of whichDavy had himself invented andpatented(1). However, Davy’soverwhelming interest was in thedevelopment of a practical electrictelegraph, and later in 1836 he publishednotes entitled “An Outline of a NewPlan of TelegraphicCommunication”(2), apparently totallyunaware that Cooke & Wheatstonewere currently engaged upon similaractivities and about to apply to patenttheir electric telegraph.

It’s not clear how Davy first becameinterested in the electric telegraph butmany 18th and 19th century inventorshad been fascinated by means ofcommunicating over long distanceswhich, hitherto, had been by line­of­sight semaphore telegraphs. As long agoas 1558 ideas of communicating bymeans of ‘sympathetic needles’ had beenpublished(3) but it was not until 1753that the Scots’ Magazine printed detailsof “C.M.’s Telegraph” which includedproposals to employ electricity for thetransmission of information(4). In 1816Sir Francis Ronalds carried outexperiments in London and tried to

Above: Edward Davey's House in Malmsbury,Australia, where he was in about 1860Photo: Leonard Johnstonewww.lenjohnston.com

6

interest the Admiralty in his new ratherbasic and somewhat impractical electrictelegraph, proposing a national, naval,telegraph system. Davy may have beenaware of Ronalds’s work andencouraged by his experiments, butthere is no direct evidence of this.Unfortunately Ronalds’s offers of ademonstration were dismissed outrightby the Admiralty as official policyfollowing the end of the NapoleonicWars was that the existing semaphoretelegraphs were perfectly adequate, andthat the Admiralty saw no need for anyform of electric telegraph in Britain!(5)The first really practicable proposalscame from Schilling, a Russiandiplomat, who in 1825 who devised thefirst needle­type telegraph(6). It was at ademonstration of one of Schilling’stelegraphs by Professor Muncke ofHeidelburg that Cooke first becameinterested in telegraphy(7). As far as isknown Davy was unaware of Schilling’ssystem and had conceived his own ideasquite independently(8).

Davy was a man of great foresight andvision and there is little doubt that hehad a clearer grasp of the requirementsand capabilities of an electric telegraphthan any of his contemporaries, and hadforeseen the advantages of using thegrowing railway network to providedirect routes for inter­city telegraphiccommunication; he had also proposedthe use of the electric telegraph forsafely controlling the passage of trainsfollowing a number of accidents withthe original time­interval system ofregulation. Early in 1837 Davy obtainedpermission to lay down a mile of copperwire in Regent’s Park in London wherehe carried out a number of successfulexperiments, using an early model of histelegraph and inventing an electric‘renewer’ or telegraph repeater whichrenewed attenuated telegraph signalswith the aid of a local battery(9). Davyhad been somewhat naïve in publicallypromoting and demonstrating hisinventions before patenting them, andthis was to contribute to his eventualdownfall as Cooke and Wheatstonewere, unbeknown to Davy, alsoworking on the development of apractical electric telegraph at the sametime and had probably visited Davy’sexhibitions. When Davy eventuallybecame aware of their work he quicklydeposited a sealed copy of his notes

together with a description of his systemwith the Society of Arts in an attemptto pre­empt any similar claims byCooke and Wheatstone. Today, in the21st century, the Society of Arts mayappear to be a strange choice for Davyto lodge details of his new inventions,but he was aware that printedpublication would forfeit his chances ofever obtaining a patent, and that theSociety of Arts was, at that time, theinstitution most closely associated withnew scientific discoveries andinventions. However Davy was too late:Cooke and Wheatstone obtained apatent for their telegraph on 12th June1837(10) after being unsuccessfullychallenged by Davy who lacked thenecessary business skills and financialbacking for a contest. Davy was initiallyinformed by the Solicitor General thatthe two inventions were different andthat the patent would be allowed to passbut, on discovering that this was not so,Davy naively assumed that Cooke andWheatstone’s patent could be set asideon the grounds that the Crown wasmisled into granting it, and that he[Davy] could bring an action forinfringement, rendering Cooke andWheatstone’s patent void.

Davy’s original telegraph was asomewhat complex system and waspublically demonstrated late in 1837 atthe Belgrave Institute in London.Progress was rapid as Davy, a prolificinventor with plenty of ideas which heclaimed to be entirely his own,developed more practical systems.Following public interest he hired aroom in the Exeter Hall in centralLondon in December 1837 where hedemonstrated his latest system includinga new needle telegraph and a chemicalprinting telegraph. Meanwhile, Cookeand Wheatstone, well aware of Davy’sexhibitions, were discussing plans toclaim infringement by Davy of theirpatent. Believing that he wouldultimately win, Davy applied for, andwas granted, a patent for his telegraphon 4th July 1838(11) after the SolicitorGeneral asked the eminent scientistMichael Faraday to judge whetherDavy’s work constituted a differentmechanism from that of Cooke andWheatstone(12): fortunately for Davyhis chemical printing telegraph andtelegraph ‘renewer’ formed the basis ofhis application and Faraday deemed it

not to infringe the earlier patent ofCooke and Wheatstone who,nevertheless, fiercely opposed Davy’sapplication.

Undeterred, Davy delivered a lecture inLondon later in 1838 entitled ‘ElectricTelegraphy’ in which he proposed whatwould eventually become the basis ofthe block signalling system and, in sodoing, pre­empted Cooke’s ideas of1842 in his publication TelegraphicRailways(13). Davy’s lecture includedthe following proposals(14) on whichFahie commented in 1840 that “themost perfect Block system of the presentday does not do this”(15):

"I have a few words to say uponanother application of electricity ­namely, the purposes it will answerupon a railway, for giving notices oftrains, of accidents, and stoppages. Thenumerous accidents which haveoccurred on railways seem to call forsome remedy of the kind; and whenfuture improvements shall haveaugmented the speed of travelling to avelocity which cannot at present bedeemed safe, then every aid whichscience can afford must be called in topromote this object. Now, there is acontrivance, secured by patent, bywhich, at every station along the railwayline, it may be seen by mere inspectionof a dial what is the exact situation ofthe engines running either towards orfrom the station, and at what speed theyare travelling. Every time the enginepasses a milestone, the pointer on thedial moves forward to the next figure, asound or alarm accompanying eachmovement.Not only this, but if two engines areapproaching each other, by any casualty,on the same rails, then, at a distance of amile or two, a timely notice can begiven in each engine by a sound oralarm, from which the engineer wouldbe apprised to slacken the speed; or, ifthe engineer be asleep or intoxicated,the same action might turn off thesteam, independently of his attention,and thus prevent an accident."Davy’s ideas as outlined above extendedfar beyond those of Cooke to coverboth the basis of block signalling andthe concept of an on­board warningsystem as well, something that tookover 100 years to be implemented onBritain’s railways.

7

Davy had already approached the GreatWestern Railway and gained Brunel’sinterest in carrying out telegraph trials,and was in advanced negotiations withboth the Birmingham Railway andSouthampton Railway, but by then hislack of business acumen was seriouslyhampering his progress. Davy’sobsession with the electric telegraph andlack of financial backing had led tomounting debts and the breakdown ofhis marriage(16). Just as he was withinreach of success Davy becameoverwhelmed by his personal problemsand successfully applied for a position asMedical Officer on an emigrant ship toAustralia. He left England on 15th April1839, nominating his father, friendThomas Watson, and others to pursuehis railway contacts. However, Davy’sdelegated team were sufficientlyunfamiliar with the technicalities of histelegraph to the extent that they failedto get it working satisfactorily and wereunable to successfully demonstrate it toany of the interested railway companies.Meanwhile Cooke & Wheatstone, whowere then securing the interest andsupport of influential railway engineerssuch as Brunel, Stephenson and Bidder,took advantage of Davy’s absence andwon approval from the Great WesternRailway for a trail between Paddingtonand Slough which subsequentlyachieved much publicity when thesystem was used in 1845 to pass detailsof a suspected murderer from Slough,where he was seen boarding a train, toLondon, where the suspect was latersuccessfully arrested(17).

Davy’s family and associates were,through lack of conviction, financialbacking and technical knowledge,unable to make any further progress andhis patent, which included theimportant idea of the telegraph renewer(repeater),and it was eventually sold tothe Electric Telegraph Company in1847 for just £600, ending the Davyfamily’s association with the electrictelegraph. Davy’s apparatus wasreturned to Ottery St Mary and waslater destroyed but, fortunately, Davy’snotes and sketches remained within thefamily and were discovered by JohnFahie in the safe keeping of one of

Davy’s nephews during Fahie’s researchfor his book on telegraph history. Fahiepersuaded the family to deposit EdwardDavy’s papers with the Society ofTelegraph Engineers, later to becomethe Institution of Electrical Engineers(IEE) and now known as the Institutionof Engineering and Technology (IET),where they have survived and are safelystored in the archives. Edward Davyremained in Australia in a variety ofoccupations until his death in 1885, butnever had any further involvement intelegraph development(18).

Interestingly, Davy’s block signallingproposals of 1838 seem to have crept into a somewhat rambling patent grantedto Henry Pinkus in 1840(19) whichincluded proposals to prevent collisionsby stopping trains at convenientdistances along a line by means of anelectro­magnetic coupler between trainand track, and an electric mechanism onboard both locomotive and break (sic)carriage. These early proposals for aform of what would later be known asAWS are, however, beyond the scopeof the present article, but emphasize theimportance of Davy’s original ideas.

Although Edward Davy’s work hasbeen well researched and published inconsiderable detail by telegraphhistorian John Joseph Fahie (1863 ­1918)(20), and brief references appear inmany other better known books ontelegraph history(21), it is quiteremarkable that railway signallinghistorians still appear totally ignorant ofDavy’s proposals for space­interval(block) signalling some 170 years afterthey were first published. Fahie madeattempts to get recognition of Davy’swork and wrote(22) that it “contains thegerm of the Block system nowemployed on all railways” but thesenotes seem to have languished in theIET archives together with Davy’soriginal papers. Davy’s proposals of 1838pre­dated and were more far­reachingand general than those of WilliamFothergill Cooke (of Cooke &Wheatstone telegraph fame) whichappeared in Cooke’s 1842 booklet‘Telegraphic Railways’; Cooke’s ideas

have hitherto generally been accepted asthe origins of block signalling(23)although Cooke didn’t really take abroader view as had Davy some fouryears previously. But with his chief rivalthen in Australia, Cooke made noreference to Davy’s earlier work,probably realising that his own proposalswere unlikely to be contested.

It is the author’s sincere hope that thisarticle will result in Edward Davy finallygaining the recognition he deservesamongst railway historians as theoriginator and pioneer of Railway BlockSignalling.

References

1 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2 Fahie, John Joseph: A History of ElectricTelegraphy to the Year 1837, E & F N Spon,London, 1884, p350.3 Fahie, op. cit., p20.4 Fahie, op. cit., p68.5 IET Archives: Sir Francis Ronalds’s Telegraph.6 Fahie, op. cit., p307.7 Kieve, Jeffrey: The Electric Telegraph – ASocial & Economic History, David & Charles,1973, p18.8 Fahie, op. cit., p399.9 Fahie, op. cit., p359.10 Cooke, William Fothergill & Wheatstone,Charles: Patent Specification No 7390, 12thJune, 1837.11 Davy, Edward: Patent Specification No 7719,4th July, 1838.12 IET Archives: Edward Davy – A MagnificentFailure.13 Cooke, William Fothergill: TelegraphicRailways, Simpkin & Co, London, 184214 Fahie, op. cit., p408.15 IET Archives: Notes by J J Fahie onCollection “Papers of Edward Davy”.16 IET Archives: Papers of Edward Davy – noteson biographical details.17 BBC: Infamous Historical Prisoners – JohnTawell:http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A419758518 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.19 Pinkus, Henry: Patent Specification No 8644,24th September, 1840.20 Fahie, op. cit., pp349 – 447 & 516 ­ 529.21 See, for example, Kieve, Jeffrey, op. cit., p23.22 IET Archives: Notes in record describing No15 of Davy’s Papers.23 The Oxford Companion To British RailwayHistory, 5th impression, 2003, p448 ‘BlockTelegraph’.Reprinted from the SRS Signalling Record No138, November/December 2009© SRS, 2009Reproduced with permission of the authorThis article was subsequently selected for the2010 Colin H Betts Award for the best generalarticle published in the Signalling Recordin 2009

Articles or letters to the editor can be posted to Chris Wakefield, “Melbury” Longdogs Lane, Ottery St Mary EX11 1HX oremailed to otteryheritage@googlemail.com. Published by The Ottery St Mary Heritage Society.

Printed by John Gaffney Design and Print, Ottery St. Mary tel 01404 8151118