| Description | The collection consists of Samuel Davy & Son’s records of business administration and accounting, sales, valuations, and the management of property on behalf of clients. The document types include letter books (1913-1935); accounting volumes comprising ledgers, cash books, and a day book (1919-1985); sale particulars and catalogues (n.d., c. 1923-1974), some with accompanying plans; sale posters and advertisements (n.d., c. 1920-1974); photographs taken for property advertisements (n.d., c. 1950-1966); valuation books (1932-1977); rent books (1919-1984); client papers (n.d., c. 1904-1968) comprising tenancy and lease agreements, statements of account, and related correspondence, plans, and other documents. Beyond the records of the activities of Samuel Davy & Son, there are records which are not directly connected to internal functions, accumulated by the business from external sources or kept by the partners (c. 1910-1955). These include sales materials for other auctioneers and land agents in the Midlands, maps of the local area, two notebooks kept by individual partners, and a minute book of the Warwickshire Agricultural Valuers' Association (1922-1935), of which the Davys were members.
The records primarily document work completed within Warwickshire for local clients or relating to local property, but there are records relating to neighbouring Solihull and Birmingham, in addition to valuations conducted in neighbouring counties.
Some series give inconsistent coverage of business functions, but the collection does span the company’s history, beginning shortly after it was founded until its latter years before it ceased operations.
Although the company is thought to have been founded c. 1911, there are some documents which predate this period due to members of the company producing records before this date, or obtaining records produced prior to this date in connection with their business activities. These documents were subsequently retained among the company’s records. |
| AdminHistory | Samuel Davy & Son was an auctioneering, land agency and valuation company operating in Knowle and the surrounding areas in the twentieth century. The company was founded c. 1911 by Samuel Davy (1864-1956) and his son, James Wilfrid Davy (1896-1970). Samuel Davy worked as a farmer prior to establishing the company with James Davy, who is recorded as being employed in an auctioneering apprentice post in the 1911 census. Milverton House, Knowle, is recorded as the office of the company in the 1916 Kelly’s Directory of Warwickshire, as it remained until the company closed in the 1980s.
In advertisements, Samuel Davy & Son is variously referred to as a company of auctioneers, land or estate agents, valuers, surveyors and insurance agents. It appears that its primary functions were auction sales and the management of clients’ rented property, served by the accompanying functions of valuing and surveying. Involved in residential, landed and agricultural property, it appears that the company primarily served west Warwickshire, but its business was also connected to Solihull, Birmingham, and other neighbouring counties.
Alongside the business, both Samuel and James Davy continued their farming work and retained a profile in this domain through local organisations, including the Warwickshire Agricultural Valuers’ Association and the Knowle and Solihull branch of the National Farmers Union. Their local prominence extended to roles in local government, with Samuel Davy serving on Solihull’s Rural and later Urban District Council, and while James Davy served on Solihull Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council, becoming an alderman and serving as Mayor of Solihull from 1955-1956.
Peter Davy [J.P.H. Davy] and Richard Davy, sons of James Davy, later also worked at the firm, continuing the company’s work beyond the deaths of their father and grandfather. The company is understood to have ceased operation in the 1980s, though records relating to its closure are absent from the collection. James and Lister Lea, a Birmingham property consultancy firm, took over the Milverton House office around this time. |