Shirley Davidson (September 23, 1874 – August 5, 1907) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player for the

Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. ...

during the late 19th century. He was a member of several

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

Championship teams in the 1895, 1896 and 1897 AHAC seasons.

Playing career

Shirley Davidson was a noted hockey and football player, and an accomplished sailor. He was also the brother of noted player and teammate Cam Davidson. Shirley played his entire career for the Montreal Victorias. He began by playing three seasons with the junior club before moving up to the senior team in the 1892–93 AHAC season. Shirley attended

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

for an engineering degree, while playing for the junior Vics. Shirley was known as a fast skater, good checker and good puck handler who never would have a bad game. Records indicate that he stopped his regular season playing career after the 1895–96 AHAC season, although he participated in the Stanley Cup challenge games in the latter part of 1897. Shirley won two Stanley cups in the 1894–95 and 1896–97 seasons, but can be credited with four championships since challenge game victories occurred in December 1896 (Challenge against

Winnipeg Victorias The Winnipeg Victorias were a former amateur senior-level men's amateur ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba, organized in 1889. They played in the Manitoba Hockey Association (MHA) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Victorias wo ...

) and his team also won a lopsided victory against the Ottawa Capitals in December 1897.

Death

Shirley went missing while sailing near

Varennes Varennes-en-Argonne (, literally ''Varennes in Argonne'') or simply Varennes (German: Wöringen) is a commune in the Meuse department in the Grand Est region in Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 639. Geography Varennes-en-Ar ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

on August 5, 1907, along with his fiancée Aileen Hingston, daughter of Sir

William Hingston Sir William Hales Hingston (29 June 1829 – 19 February 1907) was a Canadians, Canadian physician, politician, banker, and Senate of Canada, Senator. Biography Born in Hinchinbrooke, Quebec, Hinchinbrooke near Huntingdon, Quebec, he r ...

(a noted Canadian surgeon and senator). The accident was said to be inexplicable because Shirley was an accomplished sailor. Their bodies were recovered and the funeral was held on August 10, 1907. Thousands attended the funeral, including several former Victoria players. It is alleged that Shirley died in a suicide pact with Aileen Hingston as his father, Sir Charles Peers Davidson (Chief Justice of the Quebec supreme court), refused to approve their marriage because she was a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. Sadly, Aileen would not live to see her first book published; ''Pere Jean, and other stories'' which was made in print in 1910. Further tragedy was to befall the Davidson family shortly after this event as Shirley's brother Thornton died in the ''

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' disaster in 1912.

Career statistics

;Notes: :*Statistics are adapted from Coleman, Charles (1964), Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol I., Kendall/Hunt, :*Statistics do not include non-regular season tournaments. Stats for 1893-94 and 1897-98 are not fully available. Some season statistics are incomplete and may not represent all games and goals scored. Assists were not recorded.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Shirley 1874 births 1900s missing person cases 1907 deaths 1907 suicides Canadian ice hockey forwards Formerly missing people Missing person cases in Canada Montreal Victorias players Stanley Cup champions Suicides in Quebec

Playing career

Death

Career statistics

See also

References