History

Daventry branch was formed the same year as the Legion, 1921. It had club premises which moved several times to various locations in the town. Recently the branch has not had its own premises, but we have good friends in the officers and committee of Caseys Club. They give us the use of rooms for our meetings, storage of equipment, facilities for Poppy Appeal activities, and other forms of help, all at no cost to the branch.

Our branch encompasses a wide area, with around a dozen villages. This involves a lot of effort in welfare and Poppy Appeal collecting. We pride ourselves on our success in recruiting, and we maintain our membership at just over the 160 

Northampton County is split into groups, and the Daventry Branch is pleased to be a member of the only fully active group, Group 4. We have regular quarterly group meetings, and social  and fundraising events.

Daventry is an old market town with a proud history. The Romans, and later the Danes had an encampment on Borough Hill. It became a borough in 1576 and remained so until the local government changes in 1974 when it became part of Daventry District Council.

It was an important town on stagecoach routes, but fell into stagnation with the coming of the railways. There was little Victorian expansion and the population remained around 4000. A shoe factory was located in the town, but Daventry's main claim to fame was its association with the BBC. They established a Transmitting Station on Borough Hill in 1925 to transmit the National Programme on long wave. 1932 saw the start of overseas broadcasting, transmitted from the Borough Hill site, and this expanded rapidly, just before, and during the war. This lasted until the short wave station was closed in 1992. The private company which took over BBC transmitters still have maintenance and storage facilities on the Borough Hill site.

Apart from this, Daventry has expanded rapidly since 1961, when it became a Birmingham overspill area. A lot of industry has moved in, with all the necessary facilities, to give a population of over 25,000.