Davies, Sneyd

(1709-1769)

   Born in Kingsland, Herefordshire, where his father was the rector, he was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow. He was a distinguished scholar and wrote poetry from an early age. When his father died in 1732, Davies took over his father's living at Kingsland, and became almost a recluse, finding comfort in his writing. However, he collaborated with Timothy Thomas, nearby rector of Presteigne, in translating into Latin Alexander Pope's poem "Essay on Man" (1733-1734). Frederick Cornwallis, archbishop of Canterbury (an old Etonian with Davies) appointed Davies archdeacon of Derby in 1755. Davies's poems were never collected. They are to be found in Dodsley's collection (1775), Vols. V and VI; and in Nichols's collection (1780), Vols. VI and VII. Two of his poems: "A Voyage to Tintern Abbey," "A Scene [after Hunting] at Swallowfield in Berkshire."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Great Books Online (www.bartleby.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press, 1984.