Davidson Hall and Its Namesake, Robert James Davidson

Davidson Hall anchors the lower end of the Drill Field, housing offices and labs of the chemistry department. The original building was occupied in 1928, with additions constructed in 1933 and 1938. In 2014, the deteriorated and outdated center and rear section additions were demolished, leaving the original three-floor building plus the top floor constructed in 1933 in place. A replacement addition of 44,845 gross square feet (GSF) was constructed to provide modern laboratory and research space, as well as a new lecture hall that seats 349 people. The renovated building includes a lecture hall with the latest in instructional technologies and modern, energy-efficient ventilation systems for its laboratory spaces. In 2017, the second phase of the project started, to fully renovate the building’s exterior and interior. The renovation and improvements included replacement of heating and ventilation, electrical, plumbing, and telecommunications systems, installation of central air conditioning, and extensive upgrades and system improvements to classrooms and instructional spaces. Exterior improvements included tuck pointing the stonework and replacing damaged masonry elements. The project was completed in the fall of 2018.

The building came about as part of “A Vision For A Greater V. P. I.” developed in the early 1920’s that was guided by two decisions, “(1) to recondition the old brick plant and preserve its integrity as such, and (2) to develop a new plant of stone structures to the west of the old brick plant, surrounding a large open field.” The plan called for specific areas and buildings. The “western end of the oval will be marked on the south by the agricultural group . . . At the north of the western end, opposite the agricultural group, will be three buildings of the science group, the middle and largest of which - Davidson hall of chemistry - is now nearly completed.”

The building was proposed in 1924-25 in the Report of the President, which called for the college to “Erect a stone building on our new development oval, of sufficient size to accommodate the departments of chemistry, physics, geology, and metallurgy, which are now housed in the science hall. . . it could probably be built for from $200,00 to $250,000.” In the 1925-25 report, President Julian Burruss said the plan had advanced to address a pressing need:

Next to additional dormitories the provision of a new science building is the most pressing need of the college. The science departments have outgrown their present quarters, and the building now occupied is unsuitably located and unadapted to modern science laboratories. This is particularly true of the department of chemistry, a rapidly growing department, and one in which it is necessary to keep up-to-date in equipment.

The plan called for the present science hall on what is now the Upper Quad to be converted to a dormitory of about 70 rooms. The plan continued:

To replace the present science hall for the departments now occupying it, it is proposed that a stone building be erected as a unit of the plant development scheme worked out by our faculty physical plant committee with the assistance of Mr. Manning, the landscape designer. This scheme calls for a science group of three buildings to the northwest of the great oval recreation field, between the residences of Dean Pritchard and Dr. Fromme. It is intended that the largest of the three buildings in this group shall be a chemistry building, which shall be opposite the agricultural hall, as indicated on the picture of the proposed development plan. This is the building to be built now. It should be planned with reference to its future use solely for the chemistry department, and until the physics and geology departments have permanent quarters provided for them they may occupy a portion of the space in this chemistry building.

The next year, Burruss reported:

On November 15, 1926, contract was let for the handsome stone building now nearly completed. It is being provided to house the departments of chemistry, physics, geology, and metallurgy; but it has been planned for its ultimate use for chemistry alone. With this in view a recommendation was made to the Board and approved, that the building be named in honor of Professor Robert J. Davidson, who was for twenty-three years professor of chemistry here and the first dean of the applied science division. He was respected and admired by his colleagues, he was held in affection by his students, and he was greatly appreciated by the farmers of Virginia to whom he was a valuable advisor. A number of our alumni who graduated in chemistry were consulted and they were unanimously in favor of this name for the building.

The general contractor is to be commended for the type of work, and particularly for the promptness with which it has been completed. The result is that we are able to equip a portion for use during the second term of the summer quarter and all of it for the opening of the fall quarter. The equipment of the building will be most complete.

The building namesake, Robert James Davidson, was a popular and well-known member of the faculty who died suddenly on December 19, 1915. The April 1916, Bulletin of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute provided an extensive background on Davidson and a tribute from President Joseph Eggleston. The Roanoke World News published his obituary and followed up with a report on his funeral. His passing was also noted in the Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (Vol. 3, No. 4, 1920, pp. 591-92). Davidson was buried in Westview Cemetery. His wife Anna McBryde Davidson, who died on March 2, 1948, is buried next to her husband and close to her father, John McLaren McBryde. Cora Davidson Watson (04/26/1893-01/03/1928) is also buried adjacent to her parents and her husband, John Wilbur Watson. Watson had attended V.P.I. from 1905-07 and received his AB, MA and doctorate degrees at the University of Virginia. He returned to V.P.I. as a teacher in 1913, then followed in his father-in-law’s footsteps as he chaired the chemistry department from 1925 until his retirement in 1958.

Bulletin Reports

Robert James Davidson

By Professor S. R. Pritchard

Robert James Davidson, Dean of the Department of Applied Sciences and Professor of Chemistry at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, died very suddenly at his home on the campus of the Institute on the morning of Sunday, December 19, 1915, between the hours of six and seven o’clock.

Professor Davidson’s health had not been robust for many years, although for a number of months past it had seemed exceptionally good. On Saturday, the 18th, he attended to all of his accustomed duties, and after a pleasant evening at home retired to rest, in good spirits and apparently feeling better than usual. About midnight he awoke, suffering with a very severe pain in the region of his heart. Two physicians were summoned, and upon their arrival they saw at once that he was affected with angina pectoris. The powerful remedies used in such cases were applied and soon afforded relief. At three o’clock in the morning they left him resting easily. About three hours later, however, a second attack came on, and before either physician could reach him, he was dead.

At the request of the Bulletin Committee of the Institute the following composite sketch of his life has been prepared. The writer desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to all those who have so cheerfully responded to his appeal for aid, and who have so materially contributed to the value of the sketch which is now submitted to Professor Davidson’s many friends and admirers.

As to the earlier years of his life, his aunt, Mrs. R. J. Donaldson, writes as follows:

“Robert James Davidson was born of Scotch-Irish parents, in Armagh, Ireland, April 3, 1862. His father died when he was an infant and his family afterwards moved to Manchester, England, where he received his early education. In the noted grammar schools of that city, where he won highest honors, was laid the solid foundation upon which he subsequently built so well.

“When he was about sixteen years of age (his mother having meanwhile married again and formed new ties), Robert was invited by his uncle, the late Robert James Donaldson, whose godson and namesake he was, to come to South Carolina to make his home and to finish his education. He did so, and on a beautiful old rice plantation on the Maccamaw River, near Georgetown, South Carolina, he found a congenial home in his uncle’s family, where he was ever loved as a son and brother.

“Robert was an unusually handsome and winning boy, with a fine, clear complexion, curling golden hair, frank and merry blue eyes, and a smile that had the power to win its instant way to all hearts. He fell naturally into the ways of the household, and took up enthusiastically his share in the varied activities of plantation life; learned to direct groups of dusky rice-carriers, who always had a responsive smile for ‘Mas’ Robert’; rode the woods and marshes with his cousins after herds of half-wild cattle; followed the hounds on ‘deer drives’; boated, fished, etc. Here for several years he worked and played with equal earnestness, showing those traits of devotion to duty, faithfulness, sweet temper, and cheerfulness which marked his character and which were so strikingly developed in his later life. To those who were closely associated with him during these years, the picture of him as a boy of sixteen, young, strong, and beautiful, with an infectiously merry laugh and a hand and heart always eager to help, has never been dimmed by years of separation.

“In 1882 he matriculated at the South Carolina College where he completed a four-year course in three years.”

Of his life as a student at the South Carolina College, from the point of view of his fellow students, one of his former classmates—now one of the leading architects of South Carolina—Mr. Charles Croft Wilson, writes as follows:

“The reorganization of the South Carolina College in 1882 attracted to its halls a large number of young men, eager to grasp the opportunities which had heretofore been denied them. Most of them came in spite of difficulties which would now be regarded as insurmountable—an unpreparedness which would exclude them from a modem high school, and a poverty demanding a degree of self-denial to which few would submit to-day. Seldom, I think, has any college had a more earnest and determined student body than this, which faced and mastered in four years courses wisely planned and directed to bridge the wide gap between the unorganized and unrelated elementary schools and a fair standard of scholarship for an A. B. degree.

“Perhaps the most earnest and most determined of these young men, as well as the poorest, was Robert James Davidson, a recent immigrant from England, who came with his two cousins from the rice fields of Georgetown County, daunted neither by his utter lack of funds nor by his meager preparation. Hardly had he established himself in the freshman class and entered upon his arduous studies, before he was faced with the necessity of finding employment to maintain himself in college. Many students seek employment in vain, but his determination was such that when he set out to find anything, that thing could not long escape him, and he found work. First he became the college bell-ringer, then the mail-carrier, and later he undertook the care of the greenhouses and, I think, other work besides, until he had thus filled up eight hours a day and made himself fully self-sustaining.

“This was a ‘man’s job,’ and he performed it like a man, with quiet dignity and never-failing efficiency. It was never allowed to interfere with his attendance upon or careful preparation for classes or lectures, where his appearance was as regular as his bell-ringing.

“Starting on an even footing with his classmates, he had taken on some sophomore work before the end of the freshman year; during the sophomore year he kept up with his class and did most of the junior work; and in the third year he was a senior with some junior studies to make up. At the end of three years he was a full graduate with distinction, while his original classmates still had a whole year’s work to do—an achievement which won the universal admiration of his contemporaries and has been an inspiration in the college ever since.

“It required an iron constitution to sustain the tasks which he imposed upon himself, and to all appearances he had such a constitution, but, I believe, the real secret of his success was his perfect poise and self-control. He took everything as a matter of course, and never seemed conscious of the hardships he was enduring. He was never flurried, never studied with feverish haste, and I doubt if he ever ‘crammed’ for examinations. He worked always with system and precision and thus accomplished his tasks without waste of energy or vitality.

“Lest the reader gain the impression that he was the familiar type of grind, a mere automaton, let me add that he was a man of flesh and blood and very human. He took an intense interest in every question affecting student life, and in the many conflicts of opinion and action which arose, he was always found sturdily defending the side which his cool judgment and rare common sense led him to believe to be right.

“Cut off though he was by his duties from the social and athletic activities of the college, he was nevertheless the familiar friend of every man on the campus, from the greenest little backwoodsman to the athletic star and the exalted leader of the german, and none of us will ever forget his genial smile, his warm and firm hand clasp.

“His charming English accent, modified by his few years of residence in Georgetown, was at first mistaken for an Irish brogue, and before he had been on the campus a week he was dubbed ‘Pat,’ and by that name alone his host of admiring friends in South Carolina will affectionately cherish his memory.”

The estimation in which he was held by the Faculty of the South Carolina College is fittingly expressed by Major Benjamin Sloan, at that time Professor of Physics and Mathematics, but later President of the college—a man whom the students of that day will ever hold in grateful and affectionate remembrance.

Major Sloan says of him:

“Well do I remember Robert J. Davidson both as a student and for a while as a member of the faculty of South Carolina College. He and the two Donaldson boys came to college from Georgetown, South Carolina, in the year 1882. These three boys had been closely associated at their common home near Georgetown.

“Davidson soon made his mark, a shining one, both with his fellow students and with the faculty. His financial circumstances required of him much self-denial. and he readily accepted from the college whatever work could be offered to aid him in finishing his course of study.

“There was an indefinable something about Davidson which placed and kept him at the fore-front with his fellows and with the faculty. He went about among the students with a sweet dignity which won for him their respect and love, and this, with his own modest and conscientious performance of whatever duty fell upon him, made him a great power for good government. His bearing and his manner of living rendered him invaluable to the faculty in college government—just as good citizens in any community make good government easy.

“Looking back to Davidson’s college life, the mainspring of his success, it seems to me, was his unselfishness, his appreciation of, and his never-ceasing effort to obey, the two great commandments given by the Christ to govern our lives.

“The spirit so manifest in his college life grew with his years, and his influence and power for enlightenment were generously spread over the far wider field of work to which he was called. His useful and beautiful life is ended. May God rest his soul in peace.”

R. J. Davidson received the B. S. degree in 1885, and returned to the South Carolina College the next session as Secretary of the Faculty and Tutor in the Department of Chemistry, pursuing at the same time advanced studies in that department. In 1887 he received the degree of Master of Arts. He continued to serve as Secretary of the Faculty until the close of the session of 1887-1888. In recognition of his faithful and efficient services in the Department of Chemistry he was advanced to the rank of Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 1888 and was made Assistant Chemist to the Experiment Station, both of which positions he retained until the close of the session of 1890-1891.

From the beginning of his career as an instructor he exerted, to a marked degree, an influence for good upon the young men with whom he came in contact. One of them—Mr. David R. Coker, of Hartsville, South Carolina, the value of whose contributions to the advancement of scientific agriculture can hardly be overestimated—in writing since Professor Davidson’s death says of him: “He was one of a small group of young men at the South Carolina University who had much to do with establishing correct ideals in my life, and I owe a debt of gratitude to all of them.”

Another—Mr. W. W. Ball, of the editorial staff of The State, of Columbia, South Carolina—says of Professor Davidson: “In my day at the South Carolina College there was scarcely any other man in the institution who illustrated so well as he its genius in contributing to the development and equipment of the best type of intelligent and all-around manly character.”

When Dr. J. M. McBryde was called to the Presidency of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1891, Professor Davidson came with him, beginning his work at this institution in September of that year as Adjunct Professor of Chemistry and Chemist to the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station.

About this time there were indications that an insidious disease was attacking his system. In 1892 an examination made by a distinguished surgeon confirmed his fears and those of his friends. In 1893, as the only means of prolonging his life, he underwent an exceedingly grave and radical operation, and for many months it was thought he could not possibly recover, the hospital staff giving him less than a year to live. But by a merciful Providence his life was spared for nearly twenty-three years longer—the most fruitful period of his exceptionally useful career.

At the close of the session of 1893-1894 Professor Davidson was advanced to a full professorship, with the title of Professor of Chemistry. Ten years later, near the close of the session of 1903-1904, he was made Dean of the Department of Applied Sciences, in which capacity he continued to serve the Institute with great efficiency until the day of his death.

Although his duties as an instructor and an officer of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute made heavy demands upon his time and energy, he always managed to keep in touch with the progress of science and with the leading men in his profession. This is evidenced by the fact that he was a member of the Washington Academy of Science, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the American Chemical Society, and a member of the National Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, serving annually on its most important committees, and as its President in 1903. In 1909 he was a delegate to the International Congress of Applied Chemistry at London.

In addition, we find him actively engaged in the extension work carried on by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station in behalf of the farmers of the State. In this work he was one of the most effective men at the service of the Experiment Station, and second to none in acceptability to his hearers.

One or two extracts from letters received by Dr. W. B. Ellett, who succeeded Professor Davidson as Chemist to the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station in 1906, will serve to indicate the estimate placed upon Professor Davidson and his work by his associates in the scientific societies.

Dr. H. J. Wheeler, Manager of the Agricultural Service Bureau of the American Agricultural Chemical Company, writes, in part, as follows:

“Since about 1891 I have known Professor Davidson very intimately, for the reason that we were for many years closely associated in connection with committee work for the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists of the United States, of which he was later our honored President.

“I have known no man who possessed a more kindly spirit, who was more cheerful in the face of personal suffering, who was more judicial in his treatment of scientific questions, or who was more earnestly devoted to research in the interest of agriculture. He never spared himself nor failed to take even his own personal time to prosecute researches of assistance to the Association to which I have referred, and this in addition to his duties as a teacher. He was one of those rare men who possess exceptional ability as teachers, coupled with a deep interest in scientific research, ability to direct it, and rare judicial qualities which enabled them to draw correct deductions from what they have observed and done. His judgment was excellent concerning the work of others, and I could conceive of no man being more fair in weighing the testimony of his associates engaged in similar work throughout the country.”

Dr. J. K. Haywood, Chairman of the Insecticide and Fungicide Board, United States Department of Agriculture—now Vice President of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists of the United States—writes, in part, as follows:

“It was with profound regret that I heard of the death of Professor Davidson on December 19, 1915. He was one of the most genial gentlemen that it has ever been my good fortune to meet and one of the most efficient agricultural chemists in the United States.

“I have been engaged in the same line of work as Professor Davidson—agricultural chemistry—for the past twenty years and have known of him and his work during the course of these years. He was considered by the chemists of the United States to be one of the foremost agricultural chemists of the country, and all who knew him loved him, because of his geniality, gentleness, and profound knowledge of his subject. He was for over twenty years one of the most powerful and influential members of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists of the United States, and it was his superior work along agricultural chemical lines which gave him this power and influence.

“He was chosen President of this Association, and hardly a year has passed during the past twenty or twenty-five years without his being a member of some important committee of this Association or a referee on some of the important branches of this Association’s work. I believe I am safe in saying that Professor Davidson has done as much as any man in the United States to advance the science of agricultural chemistry and agricultural analytical chemistry.”

For a just estimate of his character, standing, and work—his value to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and to the State at large—the reader is referred to the tribute paid him by President Eggleston at the meeting of the Faculty held on the morning of December 20, and to the resolutions adopted by the Faculty at the same meeting, both of which appear in this issue of the BULLETIN.

Professor Davidson was not a man of the type sometimes seen nowadays, that pleads professional engagements and official duties as an excuse for neglecting the claims of the Church. An earnest Christian man, a devout Episcopalian, he was ever ready to respond to the calls of his church upon his time, his energy, and his means. The Secretary of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, the Reverend W. A. Brown, of Portsmouth, writes of his activities in connection with the church as follows:

“Professor Davidson was a Vestryman and Treasurer of Christ Church, Blacksburg, for about twenty-five years. He represented Christ Church, Blacksburg, in the Diocesan Council for eleven years. As a member of the Diocesan Council he was recognized as a conservative and active leader. He was appointed, and served faithfully, on some of the most important committees. At the last Council he was elected a member of the Diocesan Board of Missions, composed of the two Bishops, three clergymen, and three laymen. As the Board plans and in a large measure executes the mission work of the Diocese, this was a most responsible position. He was held in the highest regard by his colleagues in the church and was looked upon as one of the most dependable and, therefore, useful members of the Council.”

On May 2, 1892, Professor Davidson was married to Miss Anna M. McBryde, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. M. McBryde. The union was a happy one, as the after years have abundantly proved. A woman of fine intellect arid beautiful character, cultured and refined, Mrs. Davidson made for him a home that has been a benediction to those who have dwelt beneath its roof and a source of helpful and uplifting influences to all who have shared its generous hospitality. A true helpmate, her gentle ministrations alleviated the suffering he was often called upon to endure, and her unfaltering courage helped him to take fresh heart and hope under circumstances that were, ofttimes, most depressing.

Two daughters were born to Professor and Mrs. Davidson, Anna Cora and Minnie Bolton—the former now the wife of Dr. J. Wilbur Watson, Professor of Chemistry at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

As husband and father, generous, unselfish, devoted—always thoughtful and considerate of the wishes, needs, and feelings of the members of his household—frankly outspoken as to his own opinions and convictions when occasion required, but always tolerant of those of others, with never a word of unkind criticism, Professor Davidson’s private life was above reproach.

Some one has said, “A friend is one who, knowing all your faults, loves you still.” Robert Louis Stevenson writes, “If we can find but one to whom we can speak out of our hearts freely, with whom we can talk in love and simplicity, without dissimulation, we have no ground of quarrel with the world or God.” Such a friend was Professor Davidson to those who knew him best and loved him most.

The contemplation of his life and character should prove a source of inspiration and encouragement to his many friends and admirers. May it stimulate in the heart of each a more earnest purpose to manifest day by day that spirit which was so strikingly and beautifully exemplified in his life—the spirit of love to God and love to man, which finds its truest expression in duty unhesitatingly and faithfully done, in service unselfishly and cheerfully rendered.

A Tribute To Professor Davidson

Delivered by President Eggleston at a Meeting of the Faculty held on Monday Morning, December 20, 1915

Gentlemen of the Faculty:

We are met this morning to take suitable action in reference to the death of Professor Robert James Davidson, a member of the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute for the past quarter of a century.

Some of you have been his colleagues for many years, and knew him more intimately than I did. But as president of this institution I had, in the space of two and a half years, learned to place a very high value upon his abilities and upon his unselfish devotion to his duties. I sought his counsel often, and valued it always. He was, in my judgement, a tower of strength and power for good here. His influence was always wholesome; his judgment, warmed by a generous and kindly heart, was sound; his loyalty was unswerving; his complete self-abnegation was as evident as it was beautiful.

Professor Davidson’s influence was not confined to the campus, or to the students who went forth from these halls into a busy life. Knowing the farmers of Virginia as I do, I know that his influence with, and upon, them was great. He had their unlimited confidence and esteem; they believed in him because they knew that his knowledge was not only extensive, but was absolutely controlled by a love of truth, and by a profound and sincere interest in their welfare. They always wanted him in their meetings, and always listened to him eagerly.

And yet few men ever spoke plainer truths to them. There were times when men in his audiences winced under his words; but no feelings of anger or resentment followed. They could see from his kindly face, his transparent honesty, his deep sincerity, and his evident mastery of his subject, that here was a man with a message fraught with good, if taken to heart and followed.

Who can measure the influence of a man like this! For influences, once started, go on from generation to generation.

The president of a college would, under any circumstances, be disturbed by the death of a strong member of his faculty. But when as president of this college I think of the place Professor Davidson made for himself in the faculty, in the life of the community, in the hearts of the students, and in the State at large, I am indeed deeply disturbed.

And now, gentlemen, having spoken as president of this institution, will you pardon me, if for a few minutes, I address myself purely in my personal capacity to those of his colleagues who, like myself, have the same faith that he had in Jesus Christ, as his and our Lord and Saviour.

To us this gentle soul is not dead—and cannot be. We know that he is to-day with his Master. His body will he placed this afternoon in the earth, to return to dust; but it awaits the trumpet call that will certainly come at the resurrection of them that are justified. We know whom we have trusted, and are certain that He is able to keep what we have put into His hands until the great Day. And at last purged of the ghastly effects of sin and death, we shall evermore serve Him who, in conquering death and the grave, will complete our redemption also.

I was thinking all yesterday, in connection with Professor Davidson’s death, of a passage in the Psalms, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints”; but I was thinking of it in a translation that seems to me to bring out the thought more accurately, “Costly in the eyes of Jehovah is death to His men of kindness.”

Here, indeed, was a man of kindness. Did you ever know a gentler, kindlier, cheerier, braver personality under the handicap of a suffering body? Yea, and he was one of Jehovah’s men of kindness, for he received kindness from his Master, and dispensed it to others. And how is the death of such a man costly to Jehovah? Perowne says, “It is no light thing in the sight of God that His servants should perish.” And Delitzsch says, “The death of His saints is not cheap to God. He does not lightly suffer matters to come to such a pass.” And Rotherham observes quietly and truly, in speaking of the death of such men of kindness, “Their service (on earth) is lost, their praises are hushed, their complete personalities are in abeyance until the Resurrection.”

And so in this view we know that costly in the eyes of Jehovah is death to this man of kindness. Costly, then, to this community, because his services are lost to us, though his memory is precious. And I cannot but think that what the great Alfred said about himself, we might paraphrase and truly say about this quiet, modest, unassuming gentleman: “Whilst he lived, he wished to live nobly, and after his life to leave to those who came after him, his memory in good works.”

Resolutions

The following resolutions, offered by the committee named by the President, consisting of Professors Newman, Campbell, and Smyth, were unanimously adopted at a meeting of the faculty held on Monday, December 20:

Since, on the nineteenth day of December, 1915, death overtook our friend and colleague, Robert James Davidson, for twenty-five years Professor of Chemistry at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, we, the members of the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, have formally resolved:

That we place upon permanent record our deep feeling of personal sorrow at the severing of earthly ties with one who had endeared himself to all by his frank geniality, his unfailing courage in the face of suffering, and his thousand admirable qualities as comrade and co-worker; our recognition of the irreparable loss his death has caused to the institution and to the State which he so long and so faithfully served; our appreciation of his unusual abilities as scholar, teacher, and lecturer, of his wisdom, loyalty, and untiring labor as a member of this faculty; and, above all, our realization that in him was to be found the ideal citizen and man—a kindly Christian gentleman, without fear and without reproach.

That we give assurance of our truest sympathy to his sorrow-laden family, who in these hours of poignant suffering may find comfort in the thought that all the many who knew this catholic man grieve with them in their grief, for of none could it be more truly said that to know him was to love him.

That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family, a copy read before the corps of cadets, a copy published in the college paper, and a copy spread upon the minutes of this faculty.

Newspaper Reports

Obituary in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Robert J. Davidson.
[Special to The Times-Dispatch.]

BLACKSBURG, VA., December 19.--Robert J. Davidson, fifty-two years old, a native of England and for twenty-four years professor of chemistry at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, died suddenly this morning at his home on the campus. The funeral will take place on Monday afternoon at the Episcopal Church, of which he was a vestryman, and burial will be in Blacksburg. Professor Davidson was widely known throughout Virginia as a lecturer, and was a member of several leading scientific societies. In 1892 he married the oldest daughter of Dr. John M. McBryde, and she, with two grown daughters, survives him.

[Richmond Times-Dispatch, 20 December 1915, pg. 3]

Obituary in the Roanoke World News and the follow-up report on the funeral.

Prof. James Davidson.

Blacksburg, Va., Dec. 20--(Special)
Robert James Davidson, fifty-three years old and for twenty-four years a professor of agricultural chemistry at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, died early Sunday morning at his home on the campus. Although not in robust health for some time he had attended regularly to his duties and spent Saturday on his farm near town. The funeral takes place this afternoon from the Episcopal church, of which he was a vestryman, and burial will be in the Blacksburg cemetery. In 1892 he married Anna, oldest daughter of Dr. and Mrs. John McLaren McBryde and she, with two daughters, Misses Cora and Minnie Davidson, survive him. Professor Davidson came from his home in North Ireland to South Carolina when a boy of fifteen and graduated with the degree of A. M. at the University of South Carolina in 1887, continuing these as chemist of the experiment station until 1891, when he came to the V. P. I. Until 1905 he was chemist at the Virginia experiment station and, in addition to his duties as professor, was dean of the college scientific department until his death. In 1909 he was a delegate to the International Congress of Chemists at London, was a member of the leading scientific societies of the United States and a past president of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. He was widely known in all sections of Virginia as a lecturer on agricultural subjects and his services were much in demand for Farmers’ Institutes and other meetings. At the University of South Carolina he was a classmate of Hon. David Houston, now United States Secretary of Agriculture. During his long service at the college here Professor Davidson knew many young men and to them all he was a friend. With his fellow members in the faculty he was unusually popular and in the community, among the farmers of the county, and by those of all classes, he was well liked. Cheerfulness in the face of discouragements and a high sense of honor characterized him.

[Roanoke World News, Volume 26, Number 148, 21 December 1915, pg. 2]

Funeral of Prof. R. J. Davidson.

Blacksburg, Va., Dec. 22. -- At two o’clock Monday afternoon the body of Professor Robert James Davidson was taken from his home on the Virginia Polytechnic Institute campus through the grounds of the college where he had labored for twenty-four years, to Christ Episcopal church, of which he was a vestryman, and there the rector, Rev. R. B. Nelson, read the brief funeral service as proscribed by the Book of Common Prayer. The choir sang two hymns and then nearly all of those who had crowded the church to its capacity joined the procession to the Blacksburg cemetery, where the committal service was said and the profusion of beautiful flowers laid beside the grave of this honored and much beloved man.

A detail from the cadet corps, acted as escort of honor, and the student body marched with them. The active pallbearers were the vestrymen of the church; the honorary pallbearers were those members of the faculty who had been most intimately associated with Professor Davidson, and President Eggleston, with the others of the faculty, attended in a body. Ten cadets carried the floral tributes and among those present at the church were people from town and county, as well as relatives and friends from a distance. Some of the latter were Dr. and Mrs. T. L. Watson, of the University of Virginia; Dr. Charles N. McBryde, of Washington; and Major Bolton, of Albermarle.

[Roanoke World News, Volume 26, Number 149, 22 December 1915, pg. 2]