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Arthur Davis (1930-2020)

Arthur Davis, one of our founder members, died  in  Watford Hospital on 4 September 2020. He was 89, having been born on 1 November 1930.

Arthur was one of the people who attended a meeting called by Margaret Banks to discuss the founding  of a local society in the  Harrow and Hillingdon area.  He became our third secretary  (the first being Peter Macdonald and the second Chris Washington) and stayed in the post until 1995 when he moved to Somerset, having bought the house and observatory that had previously belonged to noted meteor observer Harold Ridley.

In his previous life, Arthur had been in the Royal Navy, but when he joined WOLAS he worked as an engineer for Nestlé    in Hayes. He lived with his mother in Beaulieu Drive, Eastcote. 

At each meeting Arthur presented  a guide to the sky, including a dark-sky diagram which he drew up for each month.  He was always keen on making his own instruments, and his main telescope was a  4-inch reflector of simple design on a home-made equatorial mount. He was keen on photography and illustrated his monthly talks with his own colour slides which he usually processed himself.  We used his rather cantankerous projector at meetings for many years. 

Arthur also brought the folding notice board to meetings, and the  screen. When he bought a new car, he made sure that there was  room for everything  he had to bring!

After his move to Somerset Arthur did not lose touch with the society. He returned for occasional meetings, and was a regular attendee at our dark-sky weekends, his most recent being that of 2018. 

Maggie Daly has provided some more background details:

He was a strong Liberal supporter.

He was very fond of classical music and went into London’s Albert Hall to concerts very often.

He provided us with Dark Sky diaries.

He was a member of the National Trust.

He moved to Crewkerne where he started to rebuild his telescope facility.  Paddy Ashdown was the Liberal leader and Arthur became strongly involved with politics again, so he never finished his telescope facility.

He joined two other societies in his area: I think he started one up himself.

Here are some memories of Arthur:

I have nothing but the fondest memories of him, including a number of truly terrifying rides in his Rover P6. We believe that in the early days Cllr Bill Tackley was President and Arthur was Chairman of the Society. He was for many years the rock on which WOLAS stood. – Chris Washington

The first time I talked to WOLAS was I think the last time Arthur did, in the Travellers’ Studio about 2003, when we shared the billing, both talking about the observatories we had built. He had recently moved to Somerset at that time. Ever after that, when I met him, I asked him how his observatory was coming on. Of course, it was never finished! He didn’t finish things because he had so many interests and was such a big organiser of activities for others. Such a friendly man. – David Arditti

I remember very well my first WOLAS weekend away in Wales when I shared a room with a quite quiet Arthur. He was a nautical engineer I think and designed equipment to photograph eclipses (imaging came later!) from a rolling ship. Albeit with limited success. Looking at the membership list he appears to be our longest standing member, joining on 24 May 1967. –   Stewart Coulter

In all my contacts with him over the years, I only have happy memories of him. One memory is of a short talk he gave, probably half a century ago, about how he built his telescope. He showed us a slide of his lathe - it was in his bedroom and behind it his bed covered with a spotless pale blue cover. How he dealt with the swarf I do not know. – Maggie Washington (né e Banks)

Arthur was a big part of WOLAS when I joined – always enthusiastic and a mine of information.  I have many happy memories of Arthur on observing trips including the trip Howard, Arthur and I made to the Whirlpool Star Party in Ireland – his driving really was something you needed nerves of steel to experience from the passenger seat! – Martin Lewis

Indeed, Arthur’s driving ‘skills’ were legendary! (the famous ‘steady on Arthur’ quote from Bob Garner as we nearly came off the road in Tenerife) Many memories of Arthur including him crashing his new car and ripping the bumper off on a WOLAS weekend, him letting the tyres down of a car whose driver he took exception to outside our hotel in Tenerife, his legendary sky notes, the jacket, shared eclipse trips lots of stuff. Sad to see the Nestlé factory in Hayes where he spent so much time project managing giant coffee making machines has recently been pulled down.

 I have enclosed a picture of Arthur on our eclipse trip in 2010 to the stunning Anaa Atoll in Tahiti drinking out of a coconut. How I would like to remember Arthur. – Howard Brown-Greaves

I have very fond memories of Arthur including the WOLAS weekend hike that got stuck on the wrong side of the dam outfall river and had to walk a couple of miles back along a steep slope,  Bob was with us and never came on a WOLAS walk again. Biggest memory though has to be his sky notes, knowledge and chemical slide images shown at the end of every meeting, no matter who does them we can never better that. – Duncan Radbourne

Around 50 years ago, when I was student at UCL, I visited WOLAS on quite a few occasions and Arthur always made me so very welcome.  

I also remember him from so many BAA meeting and the Winchester weekends.

As you say, he was always such an approachable and affable man. John Mason

I joined WOLAS fairly ‘recently’ compared to most of you but do have several lasting memories of Arthur including the long walks at Llanerchindda and the way he always seemed to be dressed like a country gentleman but still managed to keep up with the strenuous pace even in his early eighties!  He was always friendly and cheerful and his Crewkerne Sky notes were an informative and welcome regular addition to our weekend trip.

My most enduring and humorous recollection is of the time we went to Les Granges as a small group in 2007 to stay at Olly Penrice’s converted farmhouse observatory. 

The trip was organised by Howard and we all turned up on time at Heathrow including Arthur who had driven up from Somerset with everything apart from his passport!  He was sent home again and ended up having to travel on a ferry from Portsmouth. I’ll never forget us all waiting for him to arrive the following day and finally (around 10pm I think) we spotted headlights of a car approaching in the distance and rounding the crest of the mountain.  Eventually a rather smart but fairly battered SAAB estate car pulled up and out came Arthur, apologising for his late arrival but looking like he’d just arrived from a short local drive, not like someone who’d been travelling over land and sea for the last 24 hours! Tim Milton

One my memories of Arthur was on one of the WOLAS weekends to St Florence near Tenby. During the day we walked part of the Pembrokeshire coastal path. I recall Arthur standing horrifyingly close to the cliff edges and blowholes, apparently completely unconcerned for his own safety. I half expected him to suddenly disappear from view! Les Whitmore

Sad news indeed! When I was looking for a local astronomy society and heard about WOLAS, Arthur was the first person I talked to, must have been around 1992 I think!

So I have to thank Arthur for the welcome he gave me to WOLAS all those years ago and for the friends I have made during what has turned out to be such a large part of my life for over 28 years! Colin Kyte

Biography of Arthur Davis

Prepared for Ashlyns Care Home Sep 2020

I was born on 1st November 1930 at Harrow, Middlesex, lived in Kenton, attending Kano Infant School.  In 1938  I moved to Eastcote, Middlesex, attending Cannon Lane JM&I school for a short while.

My Father’s job in a protected occupation, moved to Bromsgrove and we lived in an empty Vicarage there, with another family.  I attended Bromsgrove County High School.  As World War 2 progressed  it was judged safe enough for my Father’s department to return to London and for the family to return to Eastcote at the end of 1942, where I went to Pinner County School.

I joined the Royal Navy in January 1946 at the age of just 15 as an Engineering Apprentice.  After 4 years training at Rosyth naval base I served at sea as an Engine Room Artificer on a variety of ships all over the world, including 2 years on Warship HMS Birmingham in the far East during the Korean war.

In 1957 I was serving on a destroyer, HMS Defender, in the Mediterranean when I saw a bright comet - Arend–Roland.  This started my interest in astronomy.  

I left the Navy in October 1960 and joined the  Nestlé  Company as a maintenance and project engineer at their Hayes factory, and worked my way up the Engineering Division, working with Confectionery Products, Freeze Drying Technology and with Coffee Production.  I retired from Nestlé   at the end of 1993 and pursued my interests in astronomy, coastal and hill walking, listening to music and supporting the Liberal Party.

I joined the British Astronomical Association, and in 1967 I was a founder member of the West of London Astronomical Society.  I saw my first total solar eclipse off the West coast of Africa in 1973.  Since then I have successfully observed another 14, with one complete failure (1999 in Devon) and one partial failure (2009 in China).  However, all of them gave me the excuse to have great holidays all over the world.

In 1995 I escaped from the lights of London to a bungalow in the relative darkness of the sky at Middle Chinnock in Somerset.   In 2003 I was a founder member of the Crewkerne & District Astronomical Society and was its President for a while.  I also joined Tiverton and Mid Devon Astronomy Society.  With my engineering background, I built a comprehensive workshop to construct telescopes for use on land and at sea, and a darkroom to process photographic slides.  I built an observatory in my garden, but did not finish kitting it up.

In my spare time, I regularly attended the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil, and the Proms in the Albert Hall.  I was an active member of the Crewkerne Liberal Democrats, and was their treasurer for several years.

I had successful treatment for Prostate Cancer in 2002, but it has returned and is under surveillance. Type 2 Diabetes has been around for a few years, hopefully under control.  I had another spell in Yeovil Hospital for Pancreatitis, which took a couple of years in a Residential Care Home to clear up.  I am currently being treated for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), which required 10 days in Yeovil Hospital in May/June 2019 to control, and then a further week in October 2019 when it flared up again. 

These medical problems have resulted in my giving up driving my SAAB, and I find my memory has been affected.  I took the big decision to put my home up for sale, and in June 2019 I moved into Sunnyside Care Home in Chard.  My astronomic equipment, observatory and photographic slides have been donated to the Crewkerne and District Astronomical Society, and the contents of the workshop to the Westland and Yeovil Model Engineering Society.

After 6 months at Sunnyside, I transferred to Ashlyns Care Home in Berkhamsted to be closer to my family.

Footnote:  Arthur developed UTI again, and was transferred to Watford General Hospital on 7th August 2020; he died on 4th September 2020 from urinary sepsis, aged 89.


Photos taken of the tributes at Arthur's funeral are shown below: 1. The family's coffin wreath, depicting an eclipse with diamond ring. 2. The WOLAS tribute, with the O as an eclipse. 3. The message from WOLAS. Photos from Howard Brown-Greaves