Sir Robert Davers, 5th Baronet (1729 – 6 May 1763) was a British

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

and explorer. He was killed during Pontiac's Rebellion while on a surveying expedition of the St. Clair River.

Biography

Davers was born at

Rushbrooke Hall Rushbrooke Hall was a British stately home in Rushbrooke, Suffolk.GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Rushbrooke, in St Edmundsbury and Suffolk , Map and description, ''A Vision of Britain through Time''. http://www.vision ...

, Suffolk, the eldest surviving son of Sir Jermyn Davers, 4th Baronet and Margaretta Green. Upon the death of his father in February 1742, Davers inherited his baronetcy. The following July he entered

King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds King Edward VI School is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The school in its present form was created in 1972 by the merging of King Edward VI Grammar School, with the Silver Jubilee Girls Scho ...

. In 1756 he undertook the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

in Europe and was painted by

Pompeo Batoni Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (25 January 1708 – 4 February 1787) was an Italian painter who displayed a solid technical knowledge in his portrait work and in his numerous allegorical and mythological pictures. The high number of foreign visitors tra ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. In around 1760 he completed his studies in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

. In 1761 he travelled to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

to tour the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

, leasing his estate in Suffolk. By September 1761, Davers had introduced himself to Major General

Jeffery Amherst Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, (29 January 1717 – 3 August 1797) was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army. Amherst is credited as the architect of Britain's successful campaign ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He was tasked to carry dispatches from Amherst to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, arriving on 1 December 1761. He spent the winter there studying the language and culture of the neighbouring Native Americans. In April 1762, Davers began exploring the Great Lakes in a small canoe with either his Pawnee slave boy or a small group of colonists. By June he was at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario having completed a journey across

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

. There he met

Alexander Henry the elder Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

and travelled with him to Fort Michilimackinac. Davers had returned to Detroit by 23 September 1762. He subsequently prepared a petition to the Privy Council of Great Britain for a grant of land on Grosse Isle and several neighbouring islands.

Death in Pontiac's War

In May 1763, he accompanied Lieutenant Charles Robertson and 6 to 8 others on a surveying expedition to determine the navigability of the St. Clair River. Despite being warned by French settlers of hostile Native Americans in the area, the group proceeded and were ambushed by Pontiac's warriors in an early event in

Pontiac's War Pontiac's War (also known as Pontiac's Conspiracy or Pontiac's Rebellion) was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of Native Americans dissatisfied with British rule in the Great Lakes region following the French and Indian War (1754–176 ...

. Davers was killed in the attack. Reports from the time indicated that Davers body may have been boiled and eaten. It was later determined that although Davers’ body was mutilated, he was given a proper burial near an

Ojibwa The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

village. Davers never married and was succeeded in his title by his younger brother, Charles Davers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davers, Robert, 5th Baronet 1729 births 1763 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England British explorers of North America People educated at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds Pontiac's War