[2] His business career began in a counting house in London before being sent by his employer to the former French colony of Canada.

By the time the war ended, Davison had purchased his own ship and amassed a fortune, working with his younger brother, George.

He was imprisoned for fraud in May 1804 as a result of his attempt to bribe the voters in one of England's rotten boroughs of Ilchester.

During these dealings he fraudulently (or at least carelessly) charged the government agency fees for goods supplied from his own factories.

These fees were meant to compensate agents for the expense and effort of finding the cheapest supplier for the government's contract but Davison earned them as well as the usual profit margins on the goods he supplied from his factory.