David Davis
David Davis, an Australian, spent
his childhood in the Australian outback. He gained employment in a mine at
Broken Hill in New South Wales, which helped him finance his education. He
pursued undergraduate studies at the University of Adelaide in South Australia and later trained for the Christian ministry at Bristol
Baptist College in England. He
worked as a pastor for a short time at the Baptist Church in the village of
Street, some five kilometres south of Glastonbury, in Somerset, England.
Davis also undertook postgraduate work at the University of London where he wrote his dissertation for a PhD in the Classics. Unfortunately, he misplaced parts of his dissertation and was unable to replace the missing portions of the text in time for the presentation and defence of his thesis. While pondering his next steps, the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) of London approached Davis with an offer to go to Jamaica to serve as tutor in the Classics at Calabar Theological College. Davis always remembered the day when he rode his bicycle through a snowstorm to accept the BMS invitation.
Arriving in Jamaica in December 1910, Davis was to play a vital role on the staff of the Calabar College. He was Tutor with responsibility for Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Old Testament studies. Davis continued to teach at the College for several years after Principal Price left the institution in 1937.
Significantly, Davis, together with Ernest Price, was a pioneer in the establishment of the new Calabar High School, which opened its doors in 1912. At several points, Davis acted as principal of the school and, in 1940, was appointed Principal of Calabar High School. He served as such until his retirement in 1948. He also taught Spanish in the High School.
Davis was an extremely versatile man. He was a motor vehicle mechanic, an electrician, a plumber, a carpenter, a painter and an accountant. At the end of Davis’ first term on the Calabar staff, Principal Price described him as a person who “talks to himself in Hebrew and dreams in Syriac ... a colleague who can diagnose and cure the diseases of motor cars and trace a recalcitrant half-penny through pages of a balance sheet. He can plan a house, estimate its cost within three farthings and then erect it with his own hands ... He devises most intricate timetables for the school and college, puts himself down for every period, is always ready to advise a minister who calls on him or to drive a hundred miles to see his difficulty on the spot.”
In The Baptist Missionary Society: 145th Annual Report,
the BMS official annual report for 1937, the organisation declared:
The Jamaica Baptist Union is preparing for the celebration in 1938 of the centenary of emancipation, and the B.M.S. has responded to their invitation to be a patron of these celebrations and to be represented at the meetings. Principal Ernest Price retires in July next from the position he has held for more than 26 years at Calabar College. The Rev. Dr Gurnos King, now of Kingston, Surrey, has been appointed to succeed him, and will be leaving England in July, when a special B.M.S. deputation will be visiting the Jamaica churches, and will take part in his induction. He will have as his valued colleague, the Rev. David Davis, who has rendered great service in Jamaica for more than 25 years.[1]
When Dr. King passed away in 1939, Davis acted as Principal of Calabar High School. In 1940, he was appointed to the position in which he served until his retirement in 1948, giving 37 years of faithful and efficient service to Calabar. Challenges involving his family adversely affected Davis toward the end of his time of service at Calabar. His wife developed mental problems and after Davis retired, she refused to join him in vacating the residence erected for the use of the Calabar principal and his family. When Davis’ successor, Keith Tucker, and his family arrived in Jamaica in 1948, they had to seek refuge in a guest house in the Half Way Tree area. Eventually, Mrs. Davis was persuaded to vacate the Principal’s house and the Davises ended their connection with Calabar. According to historian Arnold Bertram, Davis continued to make Jamaica his home until the day of his death.
Because he never sought the limelight and was satisfied to be an excellent collaborator with Price and others, Davis’ contribution could easily be overlooked. Calabar Old Boys remembered him with great affection and deep respect. They celebrate Davis’ wisdom, knowledge, humility and versatility. They recall the emphasis he placed on his students performing at the highest academic level and simultaneously acquiring practical skills for daily living.
When he attended his final graduation exercise before retiring from Calabar, Davis received accolades from those present. Principal Keith Tucker described him as “a successful administrator, a fine school builder and above all, a man of high character and true Christian grace.” He continued, “It is quite impossible for me, as perhaps for anyone, to estimate what the school owes to Reverend
David Davis
Davis
particularly since a good deal of school owes to Reverend Davis particularly
since a good deal of his work has been done behind the scenes. We know however
that he has upheld the tradition of the Teaching Profession and has counted
nothing too much to offer in service to the school.” Tucker suggested that Mr.
Davis should write a book that should make most interesting reading and entitle
it "37 years at Calabar”, an idea that was foreign to the spirit of David
Davis.
On April 14, 1973, after spending 61 years of his life in Jamaica that he had made his home, Davis ended his earthly pilgrimage. His cremated remains were placed in the walls of the Calabar Chapel. On March 25, 1975, when a Memorial Service for him was held in the Calabar Chapel, Rev. Clarence Edwards, President of Jamaica Baptist Union, officiated. Distinguished leader of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and Calabar Old Boy Caleb Cousins, paid tribute to Davis, whom he described as “a man with an extraordinary variety of abilities and skills.” He added this:
He was a teacher who,
by his power of example and devotion to duty and his ability to share with his
students his vast experience and knowledge, earned the respect, admiration and
good will of them all….
Despite his
achievements, Mr. Davis was always a humble and very honest person and was
always reluctant to have others speak of him. He was a man who always performed
his duties and responsibilities with complete faithfulness, yet without any
desire for enrichment in any way. This is the kind of spirit we need in our
island. He gave the utmost for the highest.
Mr.
Herbert McKenley, president of the Calabar Old Boys Association, unveiled a
memorial tablet, which was placed in the wall of the Calabar chapel above the
urn containing Mr. Davis’ cremated remains.
Writing in the Missionary
Herald in the year of Davis’s death, Rev. David Jelleyman, a BMS missionary
to Jamaica from 1948 -1984 described Davis as “scholar of the highest calibre
and a man of singularly rich and varied gifts.”
According to historian Arnold
Bertram, David Davis “devoted himself entirely to the development and progress
of the school and to the welfare of the boys with a commitment and sincerity
that has never been superseded.”
[1]
The Baptist Missionary Society: 145th Annual Report For the year ending
March 31st, 1937 (London: The Carey Press, 1937), 31. One of the few
persons who criticized Price in print is George Wilfred Smith who, in his Conquests
of Christ in the West Indies: A Short History of Evangelical Missions
(Brown’s Town, Jamaica: The Evangelical Book Room, n.d.) traced the “decline”
in JBU to the appointment of Price as Calabar’s head and of James before him
and Davis with him. Smith claims that they were “out of harmony with sound
doctrinal views” and were “pronounced in their unbelief.” Smith’s real concern
was that he considered Price and Davis to be “modernists” who accepted the
tenets of Higher Criticism of the Bible. Smith was sent to Jamaica in 1939 by
Baptist Mid Missions (current name) in response to a request from disgruntled
Jamaica Baptist pastors. He did the groundwork that led to the formation in
1963 of the Association of Independent Baptist Churches.
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