James Alfred Davidson
Encyclopedia
James Alfred Davidson, OBE
, naval commander and diplomat
, was born on March 22, 1922. He died on May 6, 2004, aged 82. During the Second World War
James Davidson served in every theatre of the war at sea. When peace came, he joined the Commonwealth Relations Office, and after working in Cambodia
as the Khmer Rouge
took over, he held high posts in Brunei
, Bangladesh
and the British Virgin Islands
. Turning to the law after his retirement from the Diplomatic Service, he had a third career with the Pensions appeal tribunal
.
, but in 1942 he was transferred to the destroyer HMS Inconstant
, with which he took part in the first successful British landing of the war, at Diego Suarez
in Madagascar
.
In 1943 he was appointed first lieutenant of the frigate HMS Calder
. On escort and anti-submarine duties in the Western Approaches and the Mediterranean, the Calder was credited with sinking three U-boats, and never lost a ship on the fast troop convoys to Malta
. In February 1944 Davidson took temporary command of the ship aged just 21.
Shortly after D-Day
, Davidson joined HMS Rocket
, an Eastern Fleet destroyer which took part in the Battle of Penang
. After postwar pilot training, he served as executive officer and first lieutenant on HMS Childers, which took part in the painful and sensitive operation of policing illegal Jewish immigration into Palestine
.
lived close by and Davidson was invited to the family home to play mah-jong. On his return to England, Davidson was promoted and became commanding officer of the minesweeper HMS Welfare, on minesweeping and fishery protection duties. But he found the peacetime Navy less attractive than wartime service and decided to seek an alternative career.
He married his wife Daphne While in 1955.
After being called to the Bar, he joined the Commonwealth Relations Office in 1960. His first assignment was as first secretary in the newly independent Trinidad
. In 1969, though, he was posted to Phnom Penh
, where he formed a good relationship with the head of state, Prince Sihanouk.
In 1970 Sihanouk was deposed in a military coup. The British and American embassies were the only ones to keep families on in Cambodia, and the Davidsons were kept awake at night by the mortar fire of the Khmer Rouge closing in on the city. All those who worked for them later fell victim to the horrors of "Year Zero". Davidson was an acknowledged authority on the region and his book, Indo-China: Signposts in the Storm (1979) was well received.
had just concluded and his first task was to witness mass burials of the victims. He worked closely with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
, the first Prime Minister of the new state of Bangladesh
, and he was involved in the negotiations which took place on Indira Gandhi
's visit to the new country in March 1972.
The disaster of Bangladesh had attracted much Western aid and, with it, the interest of those looking for a quick profit. Davidson's visitors in Dhaka in the early days included John Stonehouse
and Robert Maxwell
. Davidson ejected the former from his residence and politely refused the latter's forceful demands that aid money be spent on Pergamon Press publications rather than bailey bridges. He ignored Maxwell's threats of dire consequences from "powerful friends" back in London.
where, as High Commissioner, he was accommodated in Somerset Maugham's old house. He became a trusted adviser to the Brunei Royal Family during the delicate negotiations towards the new treaty of friendship and, eventually, independence.
. While there, he gained the trust of the population, who had been extremely hostile to the idea of a British Governor after the recent constitutional negotiations, and he successfully resisted early attempts by organised crime to infiltrate the colony's financial institutions.
he decided to do a pupillage
at the Admiralty Bar. His knowledge of minesweeping and wartime ship design proved unexpectedly helpful during the inquiry into the sinking of the European Gateway.
But it was not practical for him to embark on a career at the Bar at the age of 60, and in 1982 he accepted appointments as legal chairman of Mental Health Review Tribunal
s and deputy president of the Pensions appeal tribunal
, jobs which occupied him almost full-time for the next 13 years. In the mid-1990s he acted as the president of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal, but he declined an invitation to do the job permanently.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, naval commander and diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, was born on March 22, 1922. He died on May 6, 2004, aged 82. During the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
James Davidson served in every theatre of the war at sea. When peace came, he joined the Commonwealth Relations Office, and after working in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
as the Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
took over, he held high posts in Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and the British Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...
. Turning to the law after his retirement from the Diplomatic Service, he had a third career with the Pensions appeal tribunal
Pensions appeal tribunal
The Pensions Appeal Tribunal was a judicial tribunal in the United Kingdom which had jurisdiction to hear and decide appeals against decisions of the Secretary of State in connection with applications for war pensions by former members of the military services....
.
Early life
James Alfred Davidson was born in 1922 and educated at Portsmouth Grammar School and Christ's Hospital, then at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.HMS postings
His first posting, as a midshipman, was to the old cruiser HMS HawkinsHMS Hawkins (D86)
HMS Hawkins was a Hawkins-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 1 October 1917. With the conversion of her sister, HMS Cavendish, to become the aircraft carrier HMS Vindictive, HMS Hawkins became the name ship of her class.-Interwar career:HMS...
, but in 1942 he was transferred to the destroyer HMS Inconstant
HMS Inconstant (H49)
HMS Inconstant was an I-class destroyer laid down as TCG Muavenet for the Turkish Navy by Vickers Armstrong Naval Construction Works at Barrow-in-Furness on 24 May 1939, purchased in September 1939 by the Royal Navy, launched on 24 February 1941 and commissioned on 24 January 1942.Inconstant...
, with which he took part in the first successful British landing of the war, at Diego Suarez
Antsiranana
Antsiranana , named Diego-Suarez prior to 1975, is a city at the northern tip of Madagascar.Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region.-Transports:...
in Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
.
In 1943 he was appointed first lieutenant of the frigate HMS Calder
HMS Calder (K349)
HMS Calder was a Buckley class Captain class frigate during World War II. Named after Admiral Sir Robert Calder, Bt. KCB, who was appointed Captain of the Fleet to Admiral John Jervis in 1796, and saw action at the battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797.The Commanding Officers of HMS Calder...
. On escort and anti-submarine duties in the Western Approaches and the Mediterranean, the Calder was credited with sinking three U-boats, and never lost a ship on the fast troop convoys to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
. In February 1944 Davidson took temporary command of the ship aged just 21.
Shortly after D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
, Davidson joined HMS Rocket
HMS Rocket (H92)
HMS Rocket was an R-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service during Second World War. Built by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock, Scotland, she was launched in October 1942 and commissioned in August 1943....
, an Eastern Fleet destroyer which took part in the Battle of Penang
Battle of Penang
The Battle of Penang occurred on 28 October 1914, during World War I. It was a naval action in the Strait of Malacca, in which the German cruiser sank two Allied warships.-Background:...
. After postwar pilot training, he served as executive officer and first lieutenant on HMS Childers, which took part in the painful and sensitive operation of policing illegal Jewish immigration into Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
.
Government service
In 1951 he was posted as naval liaison officer to the Chinese Nationalist Government. The post was a sensitive one, with the Korean War in progress and the Communist Chinese threatening the offshore islands. The nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
lived close by and Davidson was invited to the family home to play mah-jong. On his return to England, Davidson was promoted and became commanding officer of the minesweeper HMS Welfare, on minesweeping and fishery protection duties. But he found the peacetime Navy less attractive than wartime service and decided to seek an alternative career.
He married his wife Daphne While in 1955.
After being called to the Bar, he joined the Commonwealth Relations Office in 1960. His first assignment was as first secretary in the newly independent Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
. In 1969, though, he was posted to Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
, where he formed a good relationship with the head of state, Prince Sihanouk.
In 1970 Sihanouk was deposed in a military coup. The British and American embassies were the only ones to keep families on in Cambodia, and the Davidsons were kept awake at night by the mortar fire of the Khmer Rouge closing in on the city. All those who worked for them later fell victim to the horrors of "Year Zero". Davidson was an acknowledged authority on the region and his book, Indo-China: Signposts in the Storm (1979) was well received.
East Pakistan
In 1972 Davidson, who had been appointed OBE the previous year, was asked to go to East Pakistan as deputy high commissioner. The India-Pakistan warIndo-Pakistani War of 1971
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
had just concluded and his first task was to witness mass burials of the victims. He worked closely with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali nationalist politician and the founder of Bangladesh. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its Prime Minister. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its...
, the first Prime Minister of the new state of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, and he was involved in the negotiations which took place on Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
's visit to the new country in March 1972.
The disaster of Bangladesh had attracted much Western aid and, with it, the interest of those looking for a quick profit. Davidson's visitors in Dhaka in the early days included John Stonehouse
John Stonehouse
John Thomson Stonehouse was a British politician and minister under Harold Wilson. Stonehouse is perhaps best remembered for his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974...
and Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
. Davidson ejected the former from his residence and politely refused the latter's forceful demands that aid money be spent on Pergamon Press publications rather than bailey bridges. He ignored Maxwell's threats of dire consequences from "powerful friends" back in London.
Brunei
After Bangladesh, Davidson had two appointments as head of mission. The first was in BruneiBrunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
where, as High Commissioner, he was accommodated in Somerset Maugham's old house. He became a trusted adviser to the Brunei Royal Family during the delicate negotiations towards the new treaty of friendship and, eventually, independence.
British Virgin Islands
His final posting was as Governor of the British Virgin IslandsBritish Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...
. While there, he gained the trust of the population, who had been extremely hostile to the idea of a British Governor after the recent constitutional negotiations, and he successfully resisted early attempts by organised crime to infiltrate the colony's financial institutions.
Retirement
He retired from the Diplomatic Service in 1981. After a period as a visiting fellow at the London School of EconomicsLondon School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
he decided to do a pupillage
Pupillage
A pupillage, in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, is the barrister's equivalent of the training contract that a solicitor undertakes...
at the Admiralty Bar. His knowledge of minesweeping and wartime ship design proved unexpectedly helpful during the inquiry into the sinking of the European Gateway.
But it was not practical for him to embark on a career at the Bar at the age of 60, and in 1982 he accepted appointments as legal chairman of Mental Health Review Tribunal
Mental Health Review Tribunal
The Mental Health Review Tribunal consists of two distinct bodies, within a single non-departmental public body, which exist to protect the rights of persons subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 in England and Wales in the United Kingdom...
s and deputy president of the Pensions appeal tribunal
Pensions appeal tribunal
The Pensions Appeal Tribunal was a judicial tribunal in the United Kingdom which had jurisdiction to hear and decide appeals against decisions of the Secretary of State in connection with applications for war pensions by former members of the military services....
, jobs which occupied him almost full-time for the next 13 years. In the mid-1990s he acted as the president of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal, but he declined an invitation to do the job permanently.