DAVIS, Sir GEORGE FRANCIS (1883-1947), industrialist, was born on 22 November 1883 at New Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand, third and youngest son of Charles George Davis, from Worcestershire, England, and his American-born wife Lillian Edwedinah, née Ball, whose father operated a glue factory at Leeds in partnership with one of the Davis family. Charles had migrated to New Zealand in 1879, intending to farm but instead used his small, inherited income to establish a modest glue factory at New Lynn in 1881. Acquiring a site at Onehunga on Manukau Harbour, in 1888 Charles built a new factory there. In 1892 his eldest son Charles Christopher (Chris) began to work in the factory. The second son, Maurice, went to sea as a marine engineer when he was old enough (and stayed away until 1915). In 1899 Charles formed the New Zealand Glue Co. Ltd, in which he held one third of ...

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Australian Dictionary of Biography