Basil Davey was educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton, RMA in Woolwich and at Jesus College, Cambridge.

He was commissioned second lieutenant into the Royal Engineers on 26 August 1916 and saw active service with 1 Field Squadron during the First World War, where he was Mentioned in Dispatches.

At the start of the Second World War Davey was appointed Chief Royal Engineer of 6 Armoured Division and saw service in Algeria and Tunisia.

He was promoted to substantive lieutenant colonel on 1 August 1942 and as acting-Brigadier was engaged on planning as Chief Engineer XXX Corps for the Allied Invasion of Sicily, under Lt Gen Sir Oliver Leese, for which he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 23 March 1944 (the citation for which is available in The National Archive at Kew).

[1] He became Commandant of the Royal Military College of Science on 1 August 1951[2] and was promoted to the substantive rank of major general on 14 May 1952.