HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Peter N. Davies (born
Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverp ...
, 14 July 1927, died
Caldy Caldy is a small, affluent village on the Wirral Peninsula, England, south-east of West Kirby. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. At th ...
, Wirral, 19 March 2020) was a British economic historian with interests in the port of
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, sea-based trade with
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, ...
, the Canary Islands and
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, the international fruit trade and the military history of the River Kwai campaign in World War II. He was an Emeritus Professor in the School of History at the
University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
, England. Davies was the author of several books, including "The Trade Makers,
Elder Dempster Elder Dempster Lines was a UK shipping company that traded from 1932 to 2000, but had its origins in the mid-19th century. Founders Alexander Elder Alexander Elder was born in Glasgow in 1834. He was the son of David Elder, who for many ye ...
in West Africa" (Allen and Unwin, 1973), "Trading in West Africa" (Croom Helm, 1976), "Sir Alfred Jones: Shipping Entrepreneur par Excellence" (Europa, 1978), "
Fyffes Fyffes plc () is an Irish fruit and fresh produce company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The Fyffes brand is most closely associated with the banana industry, although it is applied to a wide range of fruits and fresh produce, including th ...
and the Banana, Musa Sapientum" (Athlone Press, 1990), "Japanese Shipping and Shipbuilding Industries: A History of Their Modern Growth" (with T. Chida, Athlone Press, 1990), "The Man Behind the Bridge: Colonel Toosey and the River Kwai" (Athlone Press, 1991), and "From Orchard to Market" (with D.Hope-Mason, Lockwood Press, 2005). During a long career at the University of Liverpool which began in 1958 when he entered as an undergraduate in the Department of Commerce and Economics, Davies studied
Economic History Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and inst ...
with a focus on maritime affairs, in the department later known as ‘Economic and Social History’. He became Acting Head of Department in 1979 and was Head of Department from 1980–89, after which he was awarded a personal Chair. Davies continued the tradition of commitment to Maritime History which had been initiated by Francis Hyde and maintained by John Harris (subsequently Professor of Economic History at the
University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univer ...
) and Sheila Marriner. Taken together, Hyde, Harris, Marriner and Davies have become known as the "Liverpool School of Maritime Historians". His interests in the maritime affairs of Japan resulted in Visiting Professor appointments at
Musashi University is a university in Tokyo, Japan. The university grew out of the leading boys private high school, Musashi Junior and Senior High School, first established by businessman Nezu Kaichirō in 1922. The university has faculties of economics e ...
, Tokyo in 1979 and at
Hiroshima Shudo University is a private university in Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan. The predecessor of the school, Hiroshima Domain's Han school The was an educational institution in the Edo period of Japan, originally established to educate children of ''daimyō'' ...
in 1990-91. "The Business, Life and Letters of Frederick Cornes : Aspects of the Evolution of Commerce in Modern Japan, 1861-1912" (Global Oriental: ) was published in September 2008. In this book Davies examined the surprisingly well-preserved papers of Frederick Cornes, a merchant from
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...
, England who spent much of his life trading in Japan's port city of
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...
during and after the
Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...
, including the entire correspondence of "Cornes and Company" extending over a forty-year period in the early years of Anglo-Japanese trade. Davies's last book, "Across the Three Pagodas Pass: The Story of the Thai-Burma Railway" (Renaissance Books: ), was published in August 2013. Davies acted as editor to Ewart Escritt's translation of the personal records of Japanese Railway Engineer Yoshihiko Futamatsu. Davies had come to know Futamatsu through his research for the 1991 biography of Philip Toosey "The Man Behind the Bridge" and secured his agreement that his memoirs could be published in English after his death.Davies PN (ed), Futamatsu Y "Across the Three Pagodas Pass: The Story of the Thai-Burma Railway" (Renaissance Books: ). The book is therefore a rare account from the Japanese viewpoint of the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway (and the River Kwai Bridge) during World War II.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Peter Academics of the University of Liverpool 1927 births 2020 deaths People from Birkenhead Economic historians British historians British maritime historians