Lewis Davies was born in the coalmining village of Blaenclydach, near Tonypandy, Wales, to parents who operated a grocery store and were careful to educate all their six children to keep them from having to be employed in the coal mines.
Like his more famous brother Rhys, he was gay and for that reason decided against a career in the Anglican priesthood.
[1] In 1937, Davies secured an assistant librarian position at the Daily Mirror, which he held for ten years.
He then went to Odhams Press as their chief librarian in 1952 — a position he held until his retirement from the succeeding company IPC Books in 1978.
[1] In 1990, he decided to use the proceeds of substantial bequests to help promote the literary reputation of his brother Rhys and other Anglo-Welsh writers.