Major General Basil Charles Davey CB CBE
(1897-1959)

Basil Charles Davey was born on 21 November 1897, the son of Charles Edwin Davey, MA, BSc, of Jersey. He was educated at Blundell's School and the RMA Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Corps on 26 August 1916 and after a short time at Chatham and the RE Training Depot, Aldershot, he was posted to serve with the 1 Field Squadron RE in France.

He returned to England in 1922 and completed a Supplementary Course at the School of Military Engineering (SME) and at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he represented the University at Polo and was awarded a Half-Blue.

After a short tour with 55 Field Company RE at Catterick, North Yorkshire he returned once more to 1 Field Squadron RE at Aldershot in 1925 and, while with the Squadron, he attended a Long Equitation Course at Weedon. He then did a three-year tour with mounted troops before being posted to Catterick as ACRE Northumberland Area; he stayed in this Works appointment for two years and during his tour married Enid, second daughter of Brigadier-General E. T. Tudor and Mrs. Tudor of Camberley on 23 June 1926. They had two sons and two daughters.

In 1930 he became an Instructor at the Royal Military College, Kingston, Canada, where he was immensely popular. Whilst in Canada, he qualified as a First-Class Interpreter in both French and Italian.

In September 1934 he was posted to command HQ Wing, 1 Training Battalion, RE and, as was inevitable, he became Master of the RE Drag-hounds for the season 1934/35.

Towards the end of 1935 he was sent to Rome as Assistant Military Attaché. His two-year tour of duty there coincided with the Italian conquest of Abyssinia, the summit of Mussolini's fortunes, and the establishment of the Rome-Berlin Axis.

On returning to England he was posted once again to Catterick, as OC 55 Field Squadron RE. Almost immediately after war was declared in September 1939 he was sent, as a Lieutenant Colonel, to command 3 Training Battalion RE. He stayed in this appointment for a year and in late 1940 became CRE 6 Armoured Division and served with the Division during the First Army’s operations in Algeria and Tunisia. He was an outstanding CRE of an Armoured Division and it was perhaps typical of him that quite unofficially, and contrary to the then Dress Regulations, 6 Armoured Divisional Engineers clandestinely took with them to North Africa black berets with silver RE cap badges which were immediately produced and worn on landing at Algiers. In those days armour and the black beret were synonymous and exclusive.

In April 1943 he was promoted Brigadier and, as Brigadier E 18 Army Group, he was engaged on planning for the invasion of Sicily. He took part in these operations as Chief Engineer XXX Corps, then part of the Eighth Army. He went with XXX Corps when it returned home to become part of the Second Army and, as Chief Engineer of the Corps, he was present in the Normandy Landings in May 1944, at the crossing of the Seine and during the extensive bridging operations carried out by XXX Corps over the River Maas, the Maas-Waal Canal, the River WaaI and the Neder Rjin in connection with the Arnhem battle in September of that year (Operation Market Garden). For his services he was awarded the CBE.

He returned to England in November 1944 to command 140 OCTU but early in 1945 he was posted once more to Italy where he took over as Chief Engineer Eighth Army and, after the German surrender, he became the Chief Engineer of the British Force that advanced into Austria and lie remained as Chief Engineer BTA until the end of 1946. During his time there he had the chance once again to enjoy riding and he was able to study the ‘haute ecole’ training system practised at the Spanish Riding School, Vienna.

At the beginning of 1947 he was posted to the War Office as Colonel E (Ops) and stayed in that appointment until becoming Commandant SME in September 1948. The SME had only recently returned from its war-time location at Ripon, North Yorkshire to its traditional home at Chatham. The newly transplanted school could not have been placed in more capable hands; under his guidance the SME took root, flourished and blossomed to its former self.

In 1951 he was promoted Major-General on becoming Commandant the Military College of Science, Shrivenham. he brought with him all the enthusiasm and drive he had shown at the SME. At the time of his arrival the College was in the process of expansion. It had already embarked on a Guided Weapons Course; a Nuclear Science and a Technology Course was soon to follow. He was fully aware of the importance of studying not only conventional weapons but the weapons of the future and he used all his influence to build up in the College a team of military and academic staff to do so.

He had great breadth of vision and appreciated that the College had much to offer the regimental soldier. He did all in his power to encourage officers of all arms to come to Shrivenham and to read for degrees because he thought such an education would greatly benefit not only the officer employed in the technical field but also officers on the General Staff and in Command. It was during his time that the General Staff Science Course -was started. Its purpose was to give officers who were about to go to the Staff College, or had recently graduated from there, a short science course to show how the scientist can help the soldier. In 1953 the College was granted the title ‘Royal Military College of Science’ and he was awarded the CB.

He retired in September 1954 after thirty-eight years' honoured and distinguished service in the Corps and returned to live in the Channel Islands. In 1955 he became a Jurat of the Royal Court of Jersey. He died in London on 20 November 1959.

Sources:

Royal Engineers Journal (March 1960)

Further reading

See Campaign history - Royal Engineers and Operation Market Garden (1944)