Alfred Davidson

Who was Alfred Davidson?

Alfred Davidson was a Pottery owner, Commission Agent, a Protestant Christian, a Queensland Pioneer of Compassion and the Queensland representative of the British Aborigines Protection Society.

Alfred Davidson was born in Siston Parish, Gloucestershire, England on 21 June 1812 and he died in New Farm, Brisbane on 7 Nov 1881. He was son of the Landed Proprietor of Warmley House, George Madgwick Davidson & w. Elisabeth Francis.

Following the death of his wife Phoebe Georgiana Simmonds, Alfred Davidson, the former proprietor of renowned ‘Warmley Tower Potteries’ in Gloucestershire, migrated to Queensland. He arrived to Brisbane on board the Light Brigade on 18 May 1863 as a 50-years-old widower and single father of three children, two daughters and a son. His motives for migration is not known, but he settled as a Commission Agent in Fortitude Valley from where he seemingly spent most of his time engaged in humanitarian aid and Christian mission amongst Melanesians and Aborigines in Brisbane and Moreton Bay district.