Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 28 November 1909. (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
1 f.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
William Henry Davies (1871-1940), poet and writer, was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, the son of Francis Boase Davies and Mary Ann Evans. Following his father's death and his mother's remarriage he and his siblings were adopted by their grandparents. After leaving school he became a picture-frame maker's apprentice. In June 1893 he sailed to America, arriving in New York virtually penniless. He spent the next few years tramping across America, begging and undertaking casual labour, with occasional voyages to Britain working on cattle-ships. He then decided to go to the Klondike but while en route, he lost his right leg after falling under a train in Renfrew, Ontario, on 20 March 1899. After convalescing he returned to Britain. He lived in common lodging houses in London and survived by peddling wares and living off the weekly allowance of ten shillings left to him by his grandmother. He began writing poetry at this time but it was not until 1905 that he succeeded in getting his work published; he managed to save enough money to pay for the printing of two hundred copies of The Soul's Destroyer ([London], [1905]). Several further volumes of poetry and collections appeared between 1905 and 1939. His most famous prose work, Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (London, 1908), was followed by four novels, including The True Traveller (London, 1912) and The Adventures of Johnny Walker, Tramp (London, 1926). Other prose works include Beggars (London, 1909), Nature (London, 1914), My Birds (London, 1933) and My Garden (London, 1933). In 1905 he was befriended by the poet Edward Thomas (1878-1917) and his wife Helen, who in 1907 rented a cottage for him in Sevenoaks, Kent. He returned to London in 1914. Davies married Helen Payne (d. 1979) on 5 February 1923, having met her at a bus stop in London. They lived in East Grinstead, Sussex, before moving back to Sevenoaks, then Oxted, Surrey, and finally to Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, where Davies died on 26 September 1940.
Archival history
In his University of Wales MA thesis 'The Life and Work of W. H. Davies' (1956) Lawrence Hockey records that, besides the letters now in NLW MS 23937D, he had in his possession three others from Davies to Cazenove, of which this may possibly be one.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
David J. Holmes Autographs; Hamilton, NY; Purchase; July 2012; 006289823.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
A letter, 28 November 1909, from the poet W. H. Davies, The Weald, nr. Sevenoaks, to his literary agent [Charles Francis] Cazenove, concerning literary and publishing matters, including his forthcoming volume of poetry Farewell to Poesy (London, 1910).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply. Information regarding ownership of W. H. Davies copyright can be found at http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/ (viewed June 2012).
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23981E, f. 54.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Davies, W. H. (William Henry), 1871-1940 -- Correspondence. (Subject)
- Cazenove, C. F. -- Correspondence. (Subject)
- Cazenove, C. F. (Subject)