Sir Robert Davers, 5th Baronet
Portrait of Sir Robert Davers by Pompeo Batoni
Portrait of Sir Robert Davers by Pompeo Batoni
Born1729
Rushbrooke Hall, Suffolk, England
Died6 May 1763
St. Clair River, North America
NationalityBritish
Known forExplorer

Sir Robert Davers, 5th Baronet (1729 – 6 May 1763) was a British baronet and explorer. He was killed during Pontiac's Rebellion while on a surveying expedition of the St. Clair River.[1][2]

Biography

Davers was born at Rushbrooke Hall, Suffolk, the eldest surviving son of Sir Jermyn Davers, 4th Baronet and Margaretta Green.[1] Upon the death of his father in February 1742, Davers inherited his baronetcy. The following July he entered King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds. In 1756 he undertook the Grand Tour in Europe and was painted by Pompeo Batoni in Rome.[3] In around 1760 he completed his studies in Lausanne.[2]

In 1761 he travelled to North America to tour the Great Lakes, leasing his estate in Suffolk. By September 1761, Davers had introduced himself to Major General Jeffery Amherst in New York City. He was tasked to carry dispatches from Amherst to Detroit, arriving on 1 December 1761. He spent the winter there studying the language and culture of the neighbouring Native Americans.[2]

In April 1762, Davers began exploring the Great Lakes in a small canoe with either his Pawnee slave boy or a small group of colonists. By June he was at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario having completed a journey across Lake Superior. There he met Alexander Henry the elder and travelled with him to Fort Michilimackinac. Davers had returned to Detroit by 23 September 1762. He subsequently prepared a petition to the Privy Council of Great Britain for a grant of land on Grosse Isle and several neighbouring islands.[2]

Death in Pontiac's War

In May 1763, he accompanied Lieutenant Charles Robertson and 6 to 8 others on a surveying expedition to determine the navigability of the St. Clair River. Despite being warned by French settlers of hostile Native Americans in the area, the group proceeded and were ambushed by Pontiac's warriors in an early event in Pontiac's War. Davers was killed in the attack.[1][4][5] Reports from the time indicated that Davers body may have been boiled and eaten. It was later determined that although Davers’ body was mutilated, he was given a proper burial near an Ojibwa village.[2] Davers never married and was succeeded in his title by his younger brother, Charles Davers.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Cokayne, George Edward (1900). Complete Baronetage (Volume IV). Exeter: W. Pollard & co., ltd. pp. 128–9.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Kelsey, Harry. "DAVERS, Sir ROBERT, 5th baronet of RUSHBROOK". biographi.ca. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  3. ↑ "Sir Robert Davers, 5th Bt (1729-1763), aged 21". nationaltrustcollections.org.uk. National Trust. Retrieved 1 September 2023. Sir Robert Davers, 5th Bt. (c.1730–1763), eldest son of Sir Jermyn Davers, 4th Bt., whom he succeeded in 1742/3. His sister, Elizabeth, born in 1730, married the future Earl-Bishop in 1752. He was expected in Florence in 1756 by Sir Horace Mann, who in turn introduced him to Cardinal Albani in Rome in the autumn, which is also when he must have sat to Batoni.
  4. ↑ "A Journal Of An Indian Captivity During Pontiac's Rebellion In The Year 1763, By Mr John Rutherfurd, Afterward Captain, 42nd Highland Regiment". American Heritage. 9 (3). 1958. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  5. ↑ Rogers, Robert (Major) (1860). Diary of the Siege of Detroit in the War with Pontiac. p. 3.
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