Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

The song Seth Davy (also known as The Ballad of Seth Davy or Whisky on a Sunday) written by Glyn Hughes is based on a real person, a black street performer, who performed his act near to Bevington Bush in Liverpool. He was supposed to have been an old man around the turn of the century but I can't find anyone with that name or similar on census records or death indexes. Anyone fancy trying to find him?

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gerry.jones/ ... l#sethdavy

http://www.sevenstreets.com/city-living ... gton-bush/


Blue

Googling flags him up as a puppeteer and from Jamaica.

There's also a statue? of him http://www.liverpooldiscovers.co.uk/201 ... eth-davey/ I haven't seen it, can anybody identify where it is?

MaryA wrote:Googling flags him up as a puppeteer and from Jamaica.

There's also a statue? of him http://www.liverpooldiscovers.co.uk/201 ... eth-davey/ I haven't seen it, can anybody identify where it is?

Could be totally wrong but my first thought when I saw the photo was that it was near the Museum and Library. Then I saw the note that it is in William Brown Street. So come on city centre LRO experts...

DS

I wasn't aware there was a Liverpool Greats art event this year. The location of the Seth Davy artwork looks like the side of St. John's Gardens. There was a mention of all the artwork figures being sold in aid of charity so it must have been a temporary fixture at that location.

Blue

definite by car parking in front of museum, just where you walk onto St John's Gardens

wonder if he had a different name, or just dodged the census

Fairly sure that statue is of William Rathbone 1819 - 1902. It is located behind St George's Hall, between the Hall and St John's Gardens. You get a good view of it using Google Earth Streetview from the 'top end' of William Brown Street where you have to turn round at the pedestrianised area.

DS

That picture was taken in St John Garden's at the back of St George's Hall. You can see the multi storey car park in the distance. I cant say I have seen this artwork in the gardens, and I practically live in their?

simone wrote: wonder if he had a different name, or just dodged the census

It's not just the census but the deaths too, nothing for a few years around about. Assuming Seth is his real name and also but probably making too many assumptions, that he was of a decent age, the nearest I could get was Seth Kelly who died Q3 1903 but is found in the censuses, living in the right area, but as having been born in Liverpool in 1822. He can be found as early as 1841 so I would discount him.

Try the Liverpool Mercury Mary

I have come across Seth as a familiar for Thomas...

1901:
DAVIES, Thomas Henry - Pauper - u/m - 41 - Occupation None - bn West Indies.
Toxteth Park Workhouse, Smithdown Road, Toxteth Park.
RG13 - Piece:3442 - Folio: 46 - Page:24

A possible death, the only one close in age up to 1911:
Name: DAVIS, Thomas Henry
Registration District: Liverpool
Year/qtr of Registration: 1906 / Jul-Aug-Sep
Age at death: 47; Volume No: 8B; Page No: 72.

DS

Have you found something there?

MaryA wrote:Have you found something there?

Well, Thomas Henry has more than a couple of details going for him...

In 1901 his non-occupation and his place of birth and he isn't in the 1891 as far as I can see. And he dies around the right time. I know that Seth is a name on its own with Biblical roots as the 3rd son of Adam and Eve, but I have come across at least 2 Seths where both were Thomas and one of them was a Thomas Henry.

Happy New Year!

DS

Hehe, hadn't realised you had posted in between, my question was to Katie about whether she had found anything in the Mercury.

Difficult to find anything with the name Thomas Davi(e)s as it's pretty common and nothing showing for Seth.

Your find of Thomas with the correct birthplace looks good.

DS has a good candidate there. It's interesting that the end column, about health, is filled in for all of them on the original image. In the old days some performers would have a disability of some kind. A lot of blind people would play a musical instrument. This man is 41 years old but is a category 4 so his health issue is not likely to be due to his age.

Blue

Look at the photo on this link:-

http://aliverpoolfolksongaweek.blogspot ... y.html?m=1


Blue

Blue70 wrote:Look at the photo on this link:-

http://aliverpoolfolksongaweek.blogspot ... y.html?m=1

Blue

Well found! Most definitely a 'very possible and highly likely' candidate for our man.

It's a great photo isn't it? If you click on it you can see more detail. There's a sign in the distance saying Bevington House Hotel and another sign to the left of the girl carrying a bundle mentions Bevington Bush. If you look at the Jig Dolls there's a slight blur showing that they were in motion when the photo was taken.


Blue

Blue70 wrote:It's a great photo isn't it? If you click on it you can see more detail. There's a sign in the distance saying Bevington House Hotel and another sign to the left of the girl carrying a bundle mentions Bevington Bush. If you look at the Jig Dolls there's a slight blur showing that they were in motion when the photo was taken.
Blue

It's a wonderful photograph. There's a couple of the lads in the 'audience' who are barefoot. The times that were...

This thread has been read by other people researching Seth Davy and used as an online source so I thought I would provide an update. We never proved that the man in the Toxteth Workhouse in 1901 was the same man who died in Liverpool in 1906. We don't know if the man who died in 1906 died in the Liverpool Workhouse. I doubt he did because he would have been buried at the Liverpool Parochial Cemetery at Walton Park and he definitely was not buried there. We don't know if either of these two men were the real "Seth Davy". The photograph does however appear to show the real "Seth Davy" and he looks to have been older than the man on the 1901 Census and the man who died in 1906.


Blue

The picture of Seth Davy from Liverpool Discovers was, indeed, on William Brown Street. No date of birth is given on it but the year of death is given as 1902.

This is a photo I took of it while it was there:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vl5t4ns6ane1s45/P1010338.JPG