Shirley Davidson was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 player for the Montreal Victorias

Montreal Victorias

The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating...

 during the late 19th century. He was a member of several Stanley Cup

Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

 Championship teams in the 1895, 1896 and 1897 AHAC seasons.

Playing career

Shirley was a noted hockey and football player, and an accomplished sailor. He was also the brother of noted a fellow team mate Cam Davidson. Shirley played his entire career for the Montreal Victorias. He began by playing 3 seasons with the junior club before moving up to the senior team in the 1892-93 AHAC season. Shirley attended McGill University

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

 in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 for an engineering degree, while playing for the junior Vics. Shirley was known as a fast skater, good checker and good puck handler who never would have a bad game. Records indicate that he stopped his regular season playing career after the 1895-96 AHAC season, although he participated in the Stanley Cup challenge games in the latter part of 1897. Shirley won two Stanley cups in the 1894-1895 and 1896-1897 seasons, but can be credited with 4 championships since challenge game victories occurred in December 1896 (Challenge against Winnipeg Victorias

Winnipeg Victorias

The Winnipeg Victorias were a former amateur senior-level men's amateur ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba, organized in 1889. They played in the Manitoba Hockey Association in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

) and his team also won a lopsided victory against the Ottawa Capitals in December 1897.

Death

Shirley went missing while sailing on August 5, 1907 along with his fiancée Aileen Hingston, daughter of Sir William Hingston (a noted Canadian surgeon and senator). The accident was said to be inexplicable because Shirley was an accomplished sailor. Their bodies were recovered and the funeral was held on August 10, 1907. Thousands attended the funeral, including several former Victoria players.

It is alleged that Shirley died in a suicide pact with Aileen Hingston as his father, Sir Charles Peers Davidson

Charles Peers Davidson

Sir Charles Peers Davidson was a Canadian lawyer and judge.Born in Huntingdon, Lower Canada, the son of Capt. Alexander Davidson and Marion Peers, Davidson was educated at McGill University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1863, a Master of Arts degree in 1867, a Bachelor of Civil...

 (Chief Justice of the Quebec supreme court), refused to approve their marriage because she was a Roman Catholic. Sadly, Aileen would not live to see her first book published; Pere Jean, and other stories which was made in print in 1910. Further tragedy was to befall the Davidson family shortly after this event as Shirley's brother Thornton died in the RMS Titanic disaster in 1912.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an...	Team	League		GP	G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to...	A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal...	Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one...	PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,...		GP	G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to...	A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal...	Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one...	PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,...
1892–93	Montreal Victorias Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating...	AHAC		6	8
8
1893–94	Montreal Victorias Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating...	AHAC		8	6
6
1	1
1
1894–95	Montreal Victorias Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating...	AHAC		8	4
4
1895–96	Montreal Victorias Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating...	AHAC		7	8
8
1	0
0
1896–97	Montreal Victorias Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating...	AHAC
1	2
2
1897–98	Montreal Victorias Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. The club played at its own rink, the Victoria Skating...	AHAC
1	?
?

Notes:

• Statistics are adapted from Coleman, Charles (1964), Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol I., Kendall/Hunt, ISBN 0-8403-2941-5
• Statistics do not include non-regular season tournaments. Stats for 1893-94 and 1897-98 are not fully available. Some season statistics are incomplete and may not represent all games and goals scored. Assists were not recorded.