Ralph Henry Carless Davis (7 October 1918 – 12 March 1991) was a British historian and educator specialising in the European Middle Ages. Davis was born and died in Oxford. He was a leading exponent of strict documentary analysis and interpretation, was keenly interested in architecture and art in history, and was successful at communicating to the public and as a teacher.
Life
Much of this biography is derived from a memoire by G. W. S. Barrow published in the Proceedings of the British Academy.
Summary
1918. Born the son of University of Oxford history don Henry William Carless Davis (1874–1928). ?–1932. Attended the Dragon School, Oxford preparatory school. 1932–1937. Attended the Quaker school Leighton Park, Reading, Berkshire 1937–1939. Studied at Balliol College, Oxford, before World War II intervened. 1939–1945. During the war, as a conscientious objector, he joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit and served in Finland, the Mediterranean region and France. 1945–1947. Back to Balliol to take a first in Modern History and an MA. 1947–1948. Assistant history master at Christ's Hospital, Horsham. 1948–1956. Assistant lecturer at University College London, where research became an important part of his work. Married Eleanor Megaw in 1949. 1956–1970. Fellow and tutor in Modern History at Merton College, Oxford, where he produced a number of important works. 1970–1984. Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Birmingham (UK). 1984–1991. Retirement.
Early life and influences, 1918–1939
Ralph (pronounced to rhyme with 'safe') Davis was born on 7 October 1918 at 11 Fyfield Road, Oxford. He was the youngest of three sons of Henry William Carless Davis, CBE and Rosa Jennie Davis, daughter of Walter Lindup of Bampton Grange in West Oxfordshire. His father, who was Regius Professor of Modern History (Oxford) and from 1925 a fellow of the British Academy, died in 1928 when Davis was not yet 10 years old.
Earlier generations of the Davis family were involved in the Cotswold cloth industry at Stroud, Gloucestershire. The Lindup grandparents came from Worthing, Sussex, but in Davis's younger childhood owned a country house at Bampton, Oxfordshire which he and his brothers liked to visit.
Davis, like his older brothers, went to the Dragon School, and later, during World War II, contributed newsletters from Egypt and Syria to The Draconian, the school magazine.
The sudden death of his father placed financial constraints on the family, and it may have been this, or a suggestion of Gerald Haynes ('Tortoise'), a Dragon schoolmaster, which led Mrs. Davis to choose Leighton Park for Davis's secondary education. He was there from 1932 to 1937, and became involved in mediaeval architecture. Davis, as secretary of the small archaeology group and effectively its leader, organised bicycle trips round the Yorkshire abbeys in the school holidays with about six others. Davis never joined the Quakers, but he is thought to have absorbed his Christian convictions and liberal humanitarian ideals at Leighton Park. He served, later, as a governor of the school for many years.
Davis entered Balliol College, Oxford in 1937, preceded by both his brothers. As an undergraduate he arranged a one-month visit to northern Italy, taking in Milan, Venice, Ravenna and Florence. Also in this period he became interested in masons' marks and visited many Berkshire and Oxfordshire churches; this led to a paper in the Oxfordshire Archaeological Society's journal for 1938, and culminated in 1954 in the publication of his catalogue of masons' marks (see list of works below).
Professor Vivian Galbraith was an important influence during these years. He felt indebted to H. W. C. Davis since his undergraduate days, and was a close friend of the Davis family. Davis's first substantial scholarly work, his edition of The Kalendar of Abbot Samson (see list of works below), was suggested to him by Galbraith. Davis' tutor at Balliol was Richard Southern, a newly elected fellow, who described him as 'an absolutely steady and reliable performer'. Denys Hay, who did some teaching at Balliol, remembered an industrious but not very exciting student. Davis won the Kington Oliphant (historical) prize with the essay on mason's marks mentioned above.