Origins.  The progenitor of this branch of the family is a Richard Davenport (Damport) of Great Wigston, Leicestershire, UK.  The earliest reference to him is the entry in the parish register of the baptism of a daughter, in 1572.  His first child was not baptised at Wigston so it seems likely that the family moved there between these two events.  In 1576 he became a freeman of the Borough of Leicester, his occupation being given as a chandler.  He became a churchwarden of Great Wigston in 1611; he died and was buried there in 1624.  Though nothing is known of Richard before these entries, there were two prominent Davenport families in the vicinity of Wigston at about the same time.  A Thomas D was a wool merchant and Mayor of Leicester in 1553, and an Edward D, a pewterer, was Mayor of Coventry in 1550*; but no link has yet been found between the three families.  Nothing is known of the origin of Thomas, but the pedigree of Edward’s family, and their right to the family arms, was confirmed in the Heraldic Visitation of Warwickshire of 1619.  The pedigree states that he was a descendant of a younger son of the Davenports of Henbury, Cheshire. 

Line of Descent.  Richard (d 1624); Henry (1587 – 1656); Thomas (1629 – 1709); George (1677 – 1712); Samuel (1708 – 1775); John (1737 – 1788); after Richard, all the foregoing were farmers/landowners in Wigston.  Thereafter: George (1782 – 1846) a banker of Oxford; Robert (1816 – 1896) a farmer/landowner in South Australia; Cecil (1863 – 1926) a medical missionary in China; Robert (1893 – 1961) an eye surgeon in London, UK; Martin (b 1933) an industrial executive who has lived in UK, Canada, and now lives in France.

Notable Descendants of Richard.

George (1631 – 1677), (‘the Good’).  A grandson of Richard, George was a cleric with an MA from Oxford University.  He became Chaplain and Librarian to the Bishop of Durham.  In 1661 he donated a silver communion chalice and paten engraved with the traditional Davenport coat of arms and crest to the Wigston parish church.  They are still in possession of the church there.  He was collated to the Rectory of Houghton-le-Spring, a village near Durham, in 1664.  The arms on his memorial slab are those of the Cheshire family.

George (1758 – 1797), (‘the Bad’).  A gggg grandson of Richard, this George is known as Wigston’s highwayman.  From his teenage years onwards he lived a life of robbery and fraud, though it is claimed that on occasion he robbed the rich to give to the poor.  Be that as it may, in 1797 he was arrested, tried at Leicester assizes, and hanged.

Samuel (1708 – 1775).  A well-to-do landowner in Wigston, Samuel’s house at Bushloe End in the village is still in existence and when last heard of was in use as the local British Legion Club.  He was a Dissenter. 

George (1782 – 1846).  A grandson of Samuel, at the age of 20 George was appointed Steward (Business/Estate Manager) to the Earl of Macclesfield at the latter’s seat at Shirburn, Oxfordshire.  We know nothing of how this came about.  In 1818 he and his family moved to Oxford where his occupation is given in the census of 1841 as ‘banker’.  Though the Wigston family’s wealth is reputed to have been gambled away by his elder brother Samuel, George built up considerable wealth of his own.  He was an active Congregationalist, and a member of The Reform Club and the Royal Agricultural Society.  He was also one of a number of prominent Congregationalist businessmen who purchased ‘special surveys’ of 4000 acres in the newly-established colony of South Australia; he later became a Director of the South Australia Company.

Sir Samuel (1818 – 1906).  George’s fourth son; after emigrating to South Australia with his elder brother Robert in connection with their father’s investment there, he became an active and popular member of the State Legislature.  In 1884 he was made a knight bachelor and later promoted to KCMG in recognition of his work as Executive Commissioner for South Australia at a number of national and international exhibitions, culminating in the 1887 India & Colonial Exhibition in London.