William Davison (diplomat)

William Davison (c. 1541 – 21 December 1608) was secretary to Queen Elizabeth I. He played a key and diplomatic role in the 1587 execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was made the scapegoat for this event in British history. As a Secretary of some influence, he was active in forging alliances with England's Protestant friends in Holland and Scotland to prevent war with France.

Davison was of Scottish descent. In June 1566, when acting as secretary to Henry Killigrew, he was recommended to the English court for a mission to oversee Mary Stuart on the birth of her son. Discreetly, he assured her that Queen Elizabeth wanted her son to inherit the English throne. Killigrew heartily recommended him to Walsingham by stating that "Mr Davison hath deserved more....". Davison was a member of the Council's Puritan group around Leicester-Walsingham.

In 1576-7 Davison was sent on at least three separate missions into France to attempt to broker peace, and prevent war with England. Davison perceived the Spanish Governor of the Netherlands to be cruel and vengeful. He wrote his patron Leicester many times, strongly urging an alliance with the Prince of Orange to stop a Catholic alliance forming for an invasion of England. As his influence slipped away, Davison complained of ill-health and the cost of his embassy. In May 1579 he returned at last to England. He was granted, by the Queen herself, the reversion of the Clerk of Treasury's office on 16 January 1578, to which he eventually succeeded years later.

In 1582-3, he was sent into Scotland by Elizabeth on missions to communicate with Mary, Queen of Scots, to escort the ambassador of King Henri III of France, and to secure an audience with King James. Tactful and helpful, Davison worked closely with the Queen's agent, Robert Bowes until September 1584. The death of the Anglophile Prince of Orange necessitated yet another mission to the Netherlands for Davison, already an experienced diplomat. Although praised for his diplomatic role by the Puritan Earl of Leicester, when he returned he found the Queen incensed by their assumption of the Governorship in Amsterdam; they had behaved too independently for an English mission. In a typically trenchant mood, Davison saw no need to apologise, but rather insisted that he would pray the Queen changed course. Davison's biographer, Nicolas, described Davison as becoming depressed, withdrawing from Court to nurse his wounded Presbyterian pride. Davison eventually drifted away from Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, his erstwhile patron, and more towards the extreme war party around Walsingham. In the same year he became member of parliament for Knaresborough, a privy councillor, and assistant to Elizabeth's secretary, Francis Walsingham; but from 30 September 1586, he appears to have acted more as a colleague than a subordinate of Walsingham.

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