Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/160

 meeting to present an address to the queen and to have acted as spokesman, after which he returned to Wales, going round by Worcester in order to stop with his firm friend Dr. Lloyd, who had been translated to that see from St. Asaph. Davies visited London again in 1704 and 1706 to be present at the yearly meetings. He died after a very brief illness in April 1708, and was interred in the Friends' burying-place near his house at Cloddiechion, near Welshpool. He was a recognised minister for forty-five years. He was a man of amiable disposition, of considerable gift in preaching, kind-hearted, charitable, and unpretending, with considerable tact and foresight. His only work is ‘An Account of the Convincement, Exercises, and Services of that Ancient Servant of the Lord, R. D.,’ &c., 1710, which has been frequently republished in England and America.

 DAVIES, RICHARD, M.D. (d. 1762), physician, was a native of Shropshire. On 19 Aug. 1726 he was entered as a pensioner of Queens' College, Cambridge, at that time under the presidency of his relation, Dr. John Davies (1679–1732) [q. v.] There he became a fellow, proceeding B.A. in 1730, M.A. in 1734, and M.D. in 1748 (College Register). He practised at Shrewsbury, but latterly at Bath, where he died in the beginning of 1762. His will, bearing date 11 Dec. 1743, was proved on 6 March 1762 by his widow, Jane (Reg. in P. C. C. 99, St. Eloy). Davies was elected a fellow of the Royal Society on 8 June 1738, but withdrew two years later. Besides an elaborate dissertation, ‘Tables of Specific Gravities, with Observations,’ in vol. xlv. of the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ pp. 416–89, he was the author of: 1. ‘The General State of Education in the Universities: with a particular view to the philosophic and medical education: set forth in an epistle to … Doctor Hales, …, being introductory to essays on the blood,’ 8vo, Bath, 1759. Anonymous ‘Observations’ in reply appeared the same year. 2. ‘To promote the experimental Analysis of the Human Blood. Essay the first’ (no more published), 8vo, Bath, 1760.

 DAVIES, ROBERT (1684–1728), Welsh antiquary, of Llanerch, Denbighshire, and Gwysaney, Flintshire, was a diligent student of the history and antiquities of his native country, and formed a valuable collection of Welsh manuscripts, of which only ten volumes now remain, five at Llanerch, and five at Gwysaney. He died on 22 May 1728, aged 44. A superb monument was erected to his memory in Mold Church, with his figure in a standing attitude, and habited in Roman costume.

 DAVIES, ROBERT (1769?–1835), Welsh poet, better known as Bardd Nantglyn and Robin Ddu o'r Glyn, was born about 1769. He resided for four years (1800–4) in London, where he filled at intervals the offices of bard and secretary to the Gwynneddigion Society. On returning to Wales he settled at Nantglyn, near Denbigh. He occupied the bardic chair for Powis at the Wrexham Eisteddfod in 1820 by his prize elegy on the death of George III. On different occasions he obtained eleven medals for his prize poems, in addition to many premiums in money. Most of these compositions are published in his work entitled ‘Diliau Barddas,’ Denbigh, 1827, 8vo. He also wrote an excellent Welsh grammar, ‘Gramadeg Cymraeg; sef cyfarwyddyd hyrwydd i ymadroddi ac ysgrifenu yr iaith Gymraeg,’ Chester, 1808, which passed through four editions. He died on 1 Dec. 1835 and was buried at Nantglyn, where he had been for some years the parish clerk.

 DAVIES, ROBERT (1793–1875), antiquary of York, eldest son of Peter Davies, by his wife Ann, daughter of Robert Rhodes, was born at York on 19 Aug. 1793, and educated at St. Peter's royal grammar school in that city. Having been admitted a solicitor in 1814, he practised for many years in York, and was town clerk there from 1827 until 1848. He was in partnership with John Bayldon from 1829 to 1834. After his retirement from business he was elected a magistrate. He was, however, better known as an antiquary than as a lawyer. He was particularly well acquainted with the modern history of York, and read papers before the Yorkshire Philosophical Society upon the streets, churches, public buildings, houses, privileges, and other antiquities of the city. During his