1
Crumlin Road Belfast 10 July 1916 Dear Sam Please find
enclosed as promised,
sorry sorry beyond
words Yours sincerely R. B. Henry
2
P.S.
Jim Davidson died most gallantly. All his men in the Machine
Gun were killed and then he worked it himself although hit three times
and fired on till the ammunition was exhausted and then died. If he had
lived he would have got the V.C.
From Robin Henrys letter
4/7/16
A note from R.B. Henry to Samuel Cleland Davidson (1846-1921). Henry encloses a note
describing the death of Davidson's son, James. The writer notes that James would have
won the Victoria Cross, the highest military honour, should he have lived. This letter
is part of a large correspondence from Captain James Davidson to his parents. Davidson,
who was Managing Director of the Sirocco Engineering Works in Belfast, served with
13 Royal Irish Rifles and the Machine Gun Corps. His letters describe his experiences
while training in England and serving in France. He was killed on 1 July 1916, the
first day of the Battle of the Somme.Sir Samuel Cleland Davidson was an Irish inventor
and founder of the Sirocco Engineering Works in Belfast. During the First World War
the Sirocco Engineering Works manufactured and exported equipment for cooling, drying,
dust collecting, heating, ventilating, pneumatic conveyance for the Royal and Merchant
Navy.