[2] John Jones himself had two different lines of descent from Angharad James, the early 18th century poet and harpist.
He was educated at the Liverpool Institute,[2] but during holidays from school the family many times visited the Llŷn Peninsula, especially the village of Edern where Davies' paternal grandfather lived.
[5] On leaving school he worked successively for Rathbone Brothers (1887–1892), The Cambrian Shipping Company (1892–1895), Henry Tate and Sons (1895–1896), and the Mines Corporation of New Zealand (1896–1898).
His annual salary was set at £50, but a disagreement with his employers about the payment of it provoked Davies to burn the library catalogue he had compiled.
[6][4] A book of poems, Cerddi Edern a cherddi ereill (published posthumously in 1955), includes acerbic satirical verses and many lyrics which, in the judgement of the critic R. Geraint Gruffydd, "will undoubtedly live".