1. James Buckley Stringer Davis, generally known as Stringer Davis, was an English character actor on the stage and in films, and a British army officer who served in both world wars.
19 Facts About Stringer Davis
1. 2.
Stringer Davis was born on 4 June 1899 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, son of Bank of England clerk George William Davis and Ethel, daughter of J Buckley Deakin, of Prince's Park, Liverpool.
3.
The Davis family were landed gentry, of Well Close, Brockworth, Gloucestershire; his first cousin was Admiral Sir William Davis, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff from 1954 to 1957.
4.
Stringer Davis attended the independent Uppingham School and received military basic training there.
5.
Stringer Davis was discharged from military service in September 1919, about 10 months after the conclusion of the war.
6.
Stringer Davis's parents separated shortly after his return from the war.
7.
Stringer Davis's mother lived in a spacious house in Reading, Berkshire, and Davis lived in its vicinity in a boathouse overlooking the River Thames.
8.
Stringer Davis had two careers, one in the military and the other in acting.
9.
Stringer Davis began his theatrical career as a member of the Oxford Repertory Company, working as both an actor and director.
10.
The 40-year-old Stringer Davis put aside his acting career to volunteer again for military service in 1939.
11.
Stringer Davis served as a lieutenant in the East Yorkshire Regiment and later was part of the British Expeditionary Force deployed in France.
12.
Stringer Davis participated in the Battle of Dunkirk and was one of the many British soldiers evacuated on 4 June 1940.
13.
Stringer Davis remained with the army until almost the end of the Second World War, with tours of duty in North Africa and Northwest Europe.
14.
Stringer Davis married Margaret Rutherford in 1945 after a 15-year courtship.
15.
Towards the end of her life, Rutherford was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and Stringer Davis tended to her throughout a long and distressing illness.
16.
Stringer Davis's will left everything to the already-deceased Rutherford, meaning that the couple's estate would go to Davis's next of kin, his first cousin Lieutenant-Colonel William James Davis, of Well Close.
17.
In 1985, it was thought that Lang-Stringer Davis was still at large.
18.
Stringer Davis died peacefully in his sleep in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire in August 1973,15 months after Rutherford's death.
19.
Rutherford and Stringer Davis are interred in the graveyard of St James Church, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.