Background
Davenport was the son of Lieutenant Vivian Davenport, who served with the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Foot.
Davenport was the son of Lieutenant Vivian Davenport, who served with the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Foot.
He was educated at Bloxham School, Oxfordshire.
He was one of a very small number of soldiers to be twice awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry. The family was descended from William the Conqueror in an unbroken male line. At age 23, Davenport joined the 2nd Battalion, The Border Regiment, serving in Africa, India and Flanders.
He was first awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal on 1 April 1915, while serving as company sergeant major.
His citation read:
"Foreign conspicuous gallantry on numerous occasions, especially on 28th October 1914, when he went alone under heavy fire and destroyed one of the enemy’s machine guns."
He was re-awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal several months later, on 13 August 1915:
"Foreign gallant conduct and devotion to duty on the 16th May 1915, at Festubert, when, assisted by another man, he carried back an officer who was wounded, from half way between the British and German lines, under a very heavy and destructive fire.".
Davenport was invested as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1923 New Year Honours.