431124 - Unaccounted Airwoman & Airmen - 24-11-1943

[Alex Smart]

Hello Simon,

Here is what Henk has in his file.

"431124 636 UK7852 Flt Offr WAAF DAVIDSON (born Muntz - from Canada), Emily - MiD. (Age 42). Emigrated to UK and married a British air observer. First woman to die on active service with the British air arm. (ATA). Died on active service; death registered Leuchars/Fifeshire.".

Interesting that he has her as being married to an Air Observer ?
Also perhaps if I remember her parents were Missionaries so perhaps she was adopted in Canada before they returned to the UK ??

Sorry that I have nothing more. Canada search may bring up something, so if any member here could help in that matter it would be welcomed .

Could it be that Henk got it wrong, was it that the "British" Airman she is said to have married have been a "Canadian" named MUNTZ ??

thanks for highlighting this matter with us.
Alex

[kenmorrison]

Hello Simon,

Here is what Henk has in his file.

"431124 636 UK7852 Flt Offr WAAF DAVIDSON (born Muntz - from Canada), Emily - MiD. (Age 42). Emigrated to UK and married a British air observer. First woman to die on active service with the British air arm. (ATA). Died on active service; death registered Leuchars/Fifeshire.".

Interesting that he has her as being married to an Air Observer ?
Also perhaps if I remember her parents were Missionaries so perhaps she was adopted in Canada before they returned to the UK ??

Sorry that I have nothing more. Canada search may bring up something, so if any member here could help in that matter it would be welcomed .

Could it be that Henk got it wrong, was it that the "British" Airman she is said to have married have been a "Canadian" named MUNTZ ??

thanks for highlighting this matter with us.
Alex

Alex - just to clarify.
The death register entry from Wigtownshire shows Emily as "Single" and her parents (both deceased) as James and Emily Davidson. This information was provided by the RAF Station Administration Officer.
She is buried at Leuchars in Fife and her "Usual Residence" is shown as School House, Leuchars (Not Station House as I posted earlier) but she died at Dunragit in the district of Old Luce, Wigtownshire.

I suspect that Emily was born overseas but I have been unable to trace where.

Ken

[wwrsimon]

Thanks for posting the extra info from Henk's files Alex.

Like you I thought perhaps she'd been adopted, and perhaps Muntz was here birth name before her adoption, rather than her maiden name before a marriage.

However, after a little digging on ancestry.co.uk and Scotland's People, I think I've found her and her family on the Scotland Census, 1901:

3 Albyn Street, Hutchesontown, Glasgow:
John Davidson, aged 48 - missionary - born Riddell, Selkirkshire
Emily Davidson, aged 43 - no occuaption listed - born Redpath, Berwickshire
Arthur Davidson, aged 10 - scholar - born Juniper Green, Midlothian
Elizabeth Davidson, aged 6 - scholar - born Milton, Dumbartonshire
Margaret Davidson, aged 6 - scholar - also born Milton - they must be twins?
Emily Davidson, aged 4 - born Cowgill, Lanarkshire
Dorothea Davidson, aged 1 - born Glasgow

Looks like being a Missionary meant that that john and his family moved around a bit.

Moving on ten years, the 1911 Scotland Census has them living at 163 Greenhead Street, Glasgow. Arthur is no longer living with his family, but everyone else is still there. John Davidson is still a Missionary for the United Free Church. Elizabeth and Margaret are a now working as Clerkesses, Elizabeth at a Printers and Publisher and Maragaret at a Boot Factors. Emily, aged 14, is at school, as is Dorothea, aged 11.

So, the CWGC and the Statutory Deaths Register seem to have the wrong age for Emily Davidson - she was born about 1897. No idea where Henk's note that she came from Canada originated, or the name Muntz...?

As for the connection with Melrose - Redpath is a few miles to the east of Melrose, and Riddell a few miles to the south-south-west of Melrose.

Regards

Simon

[Alex Smart]

Hello Ken & Simon,
Thank you both for your response's, very odd but Henk has been known to get it wrong but not often :(
What has been found of Emily's MiD ? Must be recorded somewhere ? Would be interesting to find it.

Just found the following in CWGC -

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/c...oseph-william/

Wonder if Henk got a line of text mixed up ? Airman lost the day before an Australian. Was it his MiD I wonder ?

Alex

[wwrsimon]

Hello again

Just to confirm her date of birth, the Statutory Register of Births has:

Emily Davidson, born August 22nd 1896 at 5.00 a.m. at Cowgill Huts, Lanarkshire, daughter of John Davidson (Missionary) and Emily Davidson, who were married on June 14th 1888 at Kelso. The birth was registered at Lamington on September 12th 1896.

Regards

Simon

[COL BRUGGY]

Hello Ken & Simon,
Thank you both for your response's, very odd but Henk has been known to get it wrong but not often :(
What has been found of Emily's MiD ? Must be recorded somewhere ? Would be interesting to find it.

Just found the following in CWGC -

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/c...oseph-william/

Wonder if Henk got a line of text mixed up ? Airman lost the day before an Australian. Was it his MiD I wonder ?

Alex

Hello,

Re: Flight Officer Emily DAVIDSON's Mention in Despatches:

https://thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36329/page/309 (see also p.286).

Just to clear up the confusion on Muntz.

AUS410846 F/Sgt Joseph William MUNTZ RAAF, never received a Mention. The RAAF airman named Muntz that received a Mention, was: AUS429666 A/F/O Jack Baird MUNTZ DFC RAAF, of No.10 (RAAF) Sqn:

DFC: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/...upplement/5592

MID: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/...37407/page/124 (see also p.88).

Col.

[Alex Smart]

Thank you Col, it excludes Muntz as recipient.
He was lost in Lancaster I - W4162 -AR- J2 on night of 23/24 Nov, 43.
Looks like he was tail gunner.
Perhaps Henk was going to enter him in his list as an unknown, we will never know now :(
Anyway, thank you for searching out Emily's MiD.
I have no idea where the Canadian connection comes into play as Muntz is said to have been Australian. The name Muntz however does seem to have Canadian connections.
Thank you,
Alex

[kenmorrison]

Thank you so much everyone for all your research and especially Simon for the census and birth details (you got the latter just before me)
At the time of Emily's birth the Airdrie and Coatbridge Corporation Water Works were constructing a series of reservoirs at Cowgill and in the Scotsman newspaper The Scottish Navvy Mission Society reported the opening of a mission at the Cowgill Reservoir site near Lamington during 1894.

Ken

[wwrsimon]

Happy to help Ken.

She took a bit of tracking down, what with having a couple of red herrings thrown in from Henk's original list, and the misleading age given on both the CWGC and the Statutory Deaths Register.

I did wonder what the family was doing at Cowgill. I thought it seemed a bit off the beaten track for a Missionary, to say the least...!

Simon