THE last-surviving direct descendant of Jersey-born philanthropist and businessman TB Davis has demanded that the government reopen Howard Davis Hall to the public immediately.
Aylwen Lyddell, the only surviving great-granddaughter of Thomas Benjamin Frederick Davis – who gifted Howard Davis Park and the hall to the public of the Island in perpetuity in 1939 – said that she was “distraught” that it has been closed to the public since 2022 following a £750,000 restoration project.
“It is going against my great-grandfather’s wishes,” Ms Lyddell told the JEP. “He would be turning in his grave. It must go back to the Islanders of Jersey. It belongs to them, and no one else.”
The JEP revealed last month that since 2022 the hall has been open to the public for just 11 days in total, and that in June 2023 management of the property was handed to a private company, Ghost Kitchen, for operation as a wedding venue and events space.
The government has refused to disclose the details of the deal with Ghost Kitchen or how much money has been made by renting out the hall over the past 18 months, and multiple efforts to obtain the information under the Freedom of Information Act have been refused on commercial grounds.
It has since emerged that the pilot scheme with Ghost Kitchen ends this month, and that from January administration of the hall will pass from the Office of the Superintendent Registrar to the Infrastructure and Environment Department, whose minister is Constable Andy Jehan.
Ms Lyddell, who lives in South Africa, where TB Davis made his fortune, has written to Mr Jehan with her concerns but said she had yet to receive a detailed reply.
“My great-grandfather gave the park to the Island to provide a facility which was open to – and used by – all the people of the Island. The same would of course have applied to the Howard Davis Memorial Hall,” Ms Lyddell wrote in her letter, seen by the JEP.
“I have been very disappointed to hear from friends in the Island that the hall has been closed to the general pubic for the last few years and I have seen the recent publicity in the Jersey Evening Post on the subject.”
Ms Lyddell said she was “surprised and disappointed” that the decision to close the hall in 2022 was taken without any reference to either her or any other members of the Davis family.
She wants the hall to be reopened on a weekly basis, and for memorabilia and paintings that were removed from the building in 2022 to be returned.
A key portrait of Howard Davis that was removed in 2022 has been kept in a vault used by Jersey Heritage since.
In a statement to the JEP in November, the Office of the Superintendent Registrar said: “Prior to the renovations, the building was falling into significant disrepair. The front doors to the building were opened each day, all day; this unfortunately led to significant damp issues and extensive damage from inappropriate public behaviour and wildlife.
“The original paintings and medals case also suffered prolonged damage.
“The renovation of the building aimed to reverse the damage, save the building and its original features – and provide it with a more certain future as a memorial to TB Davis’s fallen son. These were all achieved within the budget, provided by the Fiscal Stimulus Fund.
“To avoid suffering the same damage, and to maintain the temperatures required to preserve the original portraits, the doors are no longer opened each day. Instead, public access outside of the open days or events can be arranged on request.”
The story of Howard Davis Park began when TB Davis was stealing apples from a tree in the garden of the Plaisance estate one Sunday after church. He was caught by its owner, Jurat Joshua George Falle, locked in the cellar and forced to clean the Jurat’s boots.
When he was finally set free he reportedly told Mr Falle: “One day I shall be a rich man [and] I shall buy your house and pull it down, stone by stone.”
TB Davis went to sea at 15 on the vessel Satellite. During a storm on his first voyage he was put in charge of a lifeboat carrying the papers and the captain’s top hat, but was cast adrift when the rope attaching it to the ship snapped.
He survived for days alone at sea by using the captain’s hat to collect rainwater.
He was rescued by a passing Norwegian ship and put ashore on the Isle of Wight. Davis made his way to Southampton, hitched a lift to Jersey, and arriving on a Sunday morning, headed to St Luke’s Church, where he interrupted his own funeral, to the shock of his mother.
He moved to South Africa in his early 30s and made his fortune, establishing the University College of Science in Durban and a fund for the families of South Africans serving in the Allied armies during the Second World War. True to his word, he also returned to Jersey and purchased the Plaisance property.
He had the house demolished apart from the billiard room, which became Howard Davis Hall, dedicated to the memory of his son, Howard, who was killed at the Battle of the Somme.
“My great-grandfather wanted the hall to be open to the people of Jersey. The Christmas period is the most important time for it to be open. I want the children of the Island to be able to visit the hall and learn about my great-grandfather and what he did for Jersey,” Ms Lyddell said.
