Mary Davies

Mary Davies (27 February 1855 – 22 June 1930) was a Welsh mezzo-soprano and the first Secretary and second President of the Welsh Folk-Song Society. She was principal vocalist at the London Ballad Concerts, and at the National Eisteddfod of 1906.

Life Born in London, Davies was the daughter of the Welsh sculptor William Davies (Mynorydd) (1826–1901), Her younger sister Dilys Lloyd Davies was a leading advocate for the education of women in Wales. The family attended a Welsh-language chapel in London. Before attending the Royal Academy of Music she studied singing with Henry Brinley Richards, Megan Watts Hughes and Sarah Edith Wynne. She joined the London Welsh Choral Union, then under the direction of the composer John Thomas, which in 1873 awarded her a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where she was a pupil of Alberto Randegger.

In 1888 she married William Cadwaladr Davies, a journalist and the first registrar of the University College of North Wales, Bangor. After her husband's death in 1905 she lived in London. She died on 22 June 1930 and was buried in Bangor.

Awards Honorary Mus.Doc., University of Wales (1916) Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion medal for services to music (1929)