OBITUARY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 15 May 1918, Page 4

OBITUARY.

THE LATE GENERAL DAVIES

Referring to the death of General Davies, recorded in a late issue of the Star yesterday, the Taranaki Herald says:

Richard Hutton Davies, during the i eighties and nineties of last century i practised as a surveyor and civil engineer at Inglewood. -He joined the Hawera Mounted Rifles -as a trooper and passed through th© -ranks to the command of the corps. When the bouth African War broke out in 1899 he was among the first to volunteer and he went away with the First Con! S Sfi? t -rt f?*** 6-* rank in the North Island Company. He quickly showed exceptional girts as a .soldier, jo commanded the-3rd 4th and Bth Contingents, and also a'composite column. I n 1902 he was promoted to the brevet rank of lieutenantcolonel. He was mentioned in dispatches and received the Queers medal with five clasps and the Kings-m ed al ™ 5 tw<> cjasp^ and in 1900-he was made a CB. Returning to New Zealand he was given command eof the Auckland Military District, >and in December 1906 was appointed Inspec-tor-General of the Forces with the full rank of colonel. He also became the third mUitary member of the Council of Defence His influence in the building up of.the defence forces of the Dot minion was very valuable. Under a system of exchange of officers Colonel Davies went to England about eight or ten years ago and was appointed Brigade Commander of the 6th Infantry Brigade, m which position he did such excellent work that on the outbreak of the present European War he was given command of the 6th Brigade in the Second Division of the Expeditionary Army, with the rank of BrigadierGeneral. He commanded his brigade witn great distinction throughout the from Mons in the early months ol the war^and was mentioned in dispatches. Owing to a very serious breakdown m to health he* was invalided home and when he had recovered sufficiently was given command of a training camp at Aldershot This however, did not altogether suit his temperament, and over and over again he applied to be sent back to France. His illness hOwevar, had been too severe and it was not considered that tie could stand the strain of another campaign Latterly he has been General in charge of training camps, and a special training camp for officers was under his command. _ General Davies. who would be about 5b years of age, was a born soldier, brave as a lion, and though a strict • disciplinarian he took great care of his men. who held him in the greatest esteem and confidence. In the South African war his special training as a surveyor and eno-meer stood him in good stead by the instinctive: knowledge of country it gave him. He achieved a reputation there as a soldier and a leader of. men which was second to none among the man y fine officers New Zealand sent there, and this led. his many friends and admirers in the Dominion to expect great things of him when he was selected to accompany Sir J onn French m command of a brigade of the "old contemptibles." The re£°i?u _ave_ told us —xr splendidly he fulfilled those expectations, ho w . gallant a part he took in the heroic retreat from Mons and the stubborn ?.i nS saved France and possibly England too from fallinrr under la-erman rule.

General Davies was twice married, first to Miss Ida Cornwall, second daughter of the late Captain Cornwall by whom he had two sons anyone daughter. The elder son is a solicitor practising at Taihaoe. and the younger is an officer .in an English regiment. Miss Davies is at Home. His second wife was the youngest daughter o* the late Cantam Cornwall