CHARLES Davison outlived his uncle by almost seventeen years. The firm's new premises in Pratt Street were a good deal smaller than the old works in Euston Road, but they sufficed for a business which now took its place in the second division of London organ-builders; with a reduced capacity and smaller workforce, Davison could no longer compete with Hill, Willis or Lewis for the most prestigious contracts.

For the time being, the firm continued to look after many existing clients. Extensive modifications and repairs to the organs at Ludlow (1890) and Leeds Town Hall (1891), and a major reconstruction of the actions, console and stop controls of the Bolton Town Hall organ (1906) suggest that clients still had confidence in the firm; it also built a large new organ for St Mary, West Derby (1891; £1,585) and undertook a comprehensive renovation at Chester Cathedral (1894), but most of the firm's work was more modest: reconstructions of existing organs increased, but the number of new organs declined to perhaps two or three new two-manual instruments each year. The use of tubular-pneumatic action and detached consoles became more common, but tonal schemes were not very different from those produced during Frederick Davison's last decade.

Then, on 8 July 1906, Charles Davison died ‘suddenly’ while on holiday in Cromer. It is not entirely clear what happened next. His widow, Jessie, and probably other family members retained a financial interest in the business, but it seems unlikely that any of them played an active part in its management. Some sort of informal partnership with Eustace Ingram (1839–1924), another London organ-builder, came into being, and from 1906, Ingram used the Pratt Street address for his own activities. Gray & Davison's manager was Alfred Edward Froud, who was said to have earlier worked for Ingram, and it appears that he had effective control of the firm's direction until his retirement in 1925.

Little work beyond routine maintenance and repair was undertaken during the war years. Following Jessie Davison's death on 26 May 1921, the Davison family's interests were represented on the Board by three of Frederick Davison's grandchildren: Charles Ernest Gray, Thomas Henry and Jess Davison (their father was Charles Frederick Davison, Frederick's son, who had died in 1884).