The Davis Family

Tim's Ancestors

Tim and Eleanor have tried to trace the siblings of Tim's maternal grandmother, Mabel Davis. We have found out the information below, but there are a number of gaps that we fear will probably only be filled in when the 1911 census is published. As we have been doing this research ourselves, it has been a bit of a learning curve as to how to trace your family history.

Tim's Ancestors - (direct ancestors are shown in bold)	Notes and Interesting facts
John Davis (b 1835 ish) married Mary Ann [?] (born 1840 ish). They had the following children: John - born 1862 ish Mary Ann - born 1865 ish Eliza - born 1867 ish Leah - born 1871 ish Joseph - born 25 June 1874 at Bishops Ryder, Birmingham, christened on 12 July 1874 Ada - born 1876 ish	John Davis and was a Gunsmith/Gun finisher. In 1881 son John (aged 19) worked as a Brass Caster. Mary Ann and Eliza (aged 16 and 14) worked as Button Coverers.
Frederick Heeley (b 1835 ish) married Elizabeth Drew (b 1838 ish) in [ ]. They had the following children: Elizabeth - born 28 September 1875 at 22 Saint George Street, Birmingham ?	Frederick Heeley was stated to be a pearl worker on baby Elizabeth's birth certificate (1875). In 1896 he was stated to be a stripeaster[?]. The 1881 census has a Frederick Heeley aged 46 (a pearl cutler jeweller) living with his wife Eliza Heeley (a pen grinder) at 15 Court Lionell Street, Birmingham. They are also living with a lodger called Maria Reading who is also a pen grinder. *But why are no children listed?* Elizabeth Drew was not able to sign her name when registering the birth of baby Elizabeth.
Joseph Davis (b 25 June 1874) Married Elizabeth Heeley (d 26 October 1919) on 26 April 1896. They had the following children: Joseph - born 8 June 1897 Lily - born 1898/1899 Leah - born Jan/Feb 1901 Bert? - born ? Lily E - born? registered her mother's death in 1919. Lil? - born ? Violet - born? who died young Doris - born 1911 ish? Mabel - born 17 December 1914 in Birmingham Albert - born 1916/17, who died aged about 20 of TB Rose - born 22 December 1916, who was unmarried	At the time of his marriage, Joseph Davis was living at back of 50 Ludgate Hill. At the time of her marriage Elizabeth Heeley was living at 84 Warstone Lane. In 1897, when baby Joseph was born, the Davis family were living at 5 Court 4 Well Street, Birmingham. In 1901 the family were living at 3 Back 18 Wheeler Street, Birmingham. Between 1914 and 1919, when Mabel and Rose were both born, the Davis family were living at 4 Back 37 Powell Street, Birmingham. See below for a summary of back to back housing in Birmingham. In 1897 Joseph Davis was a bicycle material stamper (journeyman). In 1914 Joseph Davis was a hot steel stamper; in 1916 he was a general labourer; and in 1919 he was an iron stamper. It seems that Joseph Davis moved jobs and homes fairly frequently over the years. In 1901 Elizabeth Heeley was a pen raiser. This was someone who made pen nibs. At the time there were a number of pen factories in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham and the city was the centre of pen manufacture at the time. Visit the Pen Room Museum for more information about the writing and pen trade in Birmingham. a picture of a pen factory. We understand that Lil, Doris, Mabel, Albert and Rose were sent to Erdington Children's home when their mother died. Birmingham City Council Social Care and Health department have told us that Mabel Davis and siblings (they do not confirm which) "entered Erdington Children's Home on 3 February 1919, to school on 7 April 1919, and to Monyhull Colony on 30 May 1929". Monyhull Colony, Kings Norton was originally given approval for a residential school for epileptic and mentally defective children. Its construction in 1913 was delayed when war broke out and when it was finished it was commandeered for use as a military hospital. Approximately 5,000 patients were treated between 1916 and 1919. Restoration was required before it was finally used for its intended purpose in 1920, when it became St Francis Residential School. The school still exists today, although it is now known as Lindsworth School. Mabel left school when she was 13 (although the school thought she was 14). I presume that it was Albert and/or Rose that were transferred to Monyhull Colony. It was probably Rose that needed the care that the colony provided as she was 'a little bit simple'.
Thomas William Wright married Mabel Davis (d. 26 June 2002). They had the following children: Patricia - born 16 March 1942 Joy - born 28 May 1946. Anthony - (known as Tony) born 24 May 1950.	The Wright family lived at 17 Haden Street, Balsall Heath, Birmingham. Joy Wright married Ken Cox in 1966 and have two children, Richard (born Feb 1973) and Helen (born 17 July 1977). Richard Cox married long term girlfriend Carmen Faulkes in September 2006, a few months before Carmen sadly passed away. Tony Wright married Pam Parkes on 1 July 1972 and have two children, Philip (born 6 May 1977) and Julie (born 18 July 1979). Philip Wright married Sue Hollis on 18 November 2000.
David Clapp married Patricia Wright on 27 March 1965 and had the following children: Timothy Charles - born 16 September 1973 Penelope Christina - born 4 November 1974	Here is Pat's family (l to r) Pat, Penny, Mabel and Tim (c. 1978).
Timothy Charles Clapp married Eleanor Brenda Baines (born 10 February 1978) on 9 August 2003 at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. They have the following children: Charles Matthew - born 23 March 2007.	Go to Tim and Eleanor's wedding page here Go to Charlie's webpage here for pictures of him.

Back to Back housing.

The Heeley family and the Davis family both lived in back to back housing, typified by the address being 'court' or 'back' and then the number and street name. Haden Street, where Pat grew up, was also back to back but the occupation of such housing was becoming much rarer by this time. Back to back housing was widespread throughout Birmingham and other cities as the only affordable housing for the working classes. The houses comprised a single room on the ground floor, being the kitchen/living room/dining room. There was a narrow staircase up to a single upper room which was usually a bedroom. Often there was another single room on a third storey and sometimes the houses also had (a rather damp) basement storage room. Toilets and laundry rooms were shared between the houses in each court. Each house backed onto another, so the house was either facing the street, or facing the court or back of the block. The standard of construction of these houses was variable (often built as cheaply as possible) and they were usually dark, cramped, damp and infested with bugs. The sanitation was often poor due to the shared toilet facilities being nobodies responsibility to clean.

Here is a plan of a typical 14 house court of back to back houses. It shows the rough dimensions of the rooms in each house being approximately 12 foot by 12 foot square.

This is a court in William Street, Birmingham in 1905.

As there is little room inside the houses, a lot of the time was spent sitting or playing outside if the weather permitted.

Both pictures are copied from the book 'Living Back to Back' by Chris Upton. This is a really interesting book, which partly focuses the history of the only existing court of such houses left in Birmingham at Inge Street, but also covers the general history of such housing. It is really worth reading if you are interested in the social conditions and history of back to back houses and has lots of interesting pictures.

To find out more about the social history of back to back housing in Birmingham, visit the National Trust's back to back house at Inge Street. You can also stay in a back to back house if you are stopping in Birmingham as two of them are National Trust holiday cottages. Kathleen Dayus has written a number of books about growing up and living in central Birmingham at the turn of the century, which are a fascinating insight into what life must have been like for the Davis family.

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