Authors starting with D

- W. H. Davies (July 3, 1871 - September 26, 1940) -

Ancestry: Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales

William Henry Davies or W. H. Davies was a Welsh poet and writer was a Welsh poet and writer.

Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or vagabond in the United States and United Kingdom, but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time. The principal themes in his work are the marvels of nature, observations about life's hardships, his own tramping adventures and the various characters he met. Davies is usually considered as one of the Georgian poets, although much of his work is atypical of the style and themes adopted by others of the genre.

The son of an iron-moulder, Davies was born at 6, Portland Street in the Pillgwenlly district of Newport, Monmouthshire and a busy port. His father died when he was just two years old. When his mother remarried she agreed that care of the three children should pass to their paternal grandparents who ran the nearby Church House Inn at 14, Portland Street. His grandfather Francis Boase Davies, originally from Cornwall, had been a sea captain.

Davies was related to the famous British actor Sir Henry Irving (referred to as cousin Brodribb by the family).

In his 1918 "Poet's Pilgrimage" Davies recounts the time when, at the age of 14, he had been left with orders' to sit with his dying grandfather. He missed the final moments of his grandfather's passing as he had been too engrossed in reading "...a very interesting book of wild adventure". This revealing anecdote betrayed the passion Davies was to have all his life, despite his humble background, for the written word.