At 24 he became secretary of a Liverpool bank; when his health demanded a temporary rest, he was sent with a large salary to a manager's post in Wrexham in 1908.
[1] As a Liberal non-conformist, Davies disparaged the National Service League's demand for conscription, and believed the answer was to volunteer militarily, so he took an officer's commission in the Territorial Army with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers while working at Wrexham.
He first worked in a FoR[clarification needed] home for disturbed children, trying to put into practice his belief in the goodness of human nature.
For disobeying orders he was court-martialled (in a depot where he had previously commanded troops) and imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs, London, and Winson Green, Birmingham, between 1917 and 1919.
[1] Davies was the author of various books in Welsh, including Pererindod Heddwch and Profiadau Pellach, about his ministry, and Atgofion Talysarn about his family, and several volumes in English.