Leslie Charles John Davis (1900-1962) was born at Herne Hill, near Brixton, London.  He was the son of Charles Sydney Davis and his wife, Alice Jane.  In 1901, Leslie’s father was working as a farrier’s shoeing smith.  In 1921, Leslie married Florence Amy Austin at Sheffield.   By 1924, he had launched a club and mail order business.  It was listed as Austin Davis Chocolate Clubs (a wholesale chocolate distributor).  Davis operated from his home address: 11 Regent Street.  Grandly titled Regent House, it was no more than a small dwelling house near St George’s Church, Portobello.  (See Picture Sheffield: s18887.)

Davis’s speciality was providing goods at ‘special trade prices’ for Christmas clubs.  These goods included (besides chocolate), cigarettes, cigars, wallets, cases, pouches, and watches.  He issued catalogues and used the slogan: the ‘Ace of Clubs’.

Davis also marketed cutlery.  Intriguingly, he once advertised a ‘complete set up’ (£40 the lot) for table knife cutlers, including electric motor, dust extracting plant, and glaziers’ dollies (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 24 June 1931).  In the Census (1939) – when he resided at Manchester Road – Davis described himself as a ‘mail order specialist’.  He continued trading from Regent Street into the 1950s, when Austin Davis became a private ‘limited’ company.  Davis died on 3 April 1962, leaving about £20,000.

Austin Davis Ltd continued until the end of the 1960s but was not listed in the Sheffield directory of 1974.