[7] In 1833, Davies declined the Editorship of the Gloucester Chronicle, which was then about to be started, and originated his own weekly newspaper and social register, the Cheltenham Looker-On, publishing the first issue in May 1833.
Initially, the Looker-On was a literary periodical rather than a journal of fashion and was what it professed to be "A Note Book of the Sayings and Doings of Cheltenham".
Davies was very fond of music and in 1835 he started the St David's Day concerts in the town and was associated with them for the rest of his life.
For this, in 1870 he received a testimonial and a volume of subscribers which included many Welsh enthusiasts including Lady Llanover, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Dowager Countess of Dunraven (Caroline, widow of the 2nd Earl of Dunraven), Sir Thomas Phillipps and Michael Hicks Beach MP.
[9] He inspired his children to perform and his daughter Mary sang and played the Welsh harp so beautifully, she was nicknamed "y Deryn" (the bird).
In the 1847 election, Sir Willoughby Jones was returned as Conservative MP for Cheltenham, after several years of Liberal dominance.
The Cheltenham Examiner, which represented the Liberal Party wrote that Davies "was aided towards the prominent part he took in discussions by oratorical powers of no mean order, and by a courage in the expression of his views which enabled him to face the tumultuous and hostile demonstrations inseparable from political contest.
The last letter which he wrote was addressed to the Mayor offering to the public library one of the volumes which had become his property after being donated to the Philosophic Institution during its existence.