W.H. Davies was born in 1887 and, having left school at the age of twelve to work as a farm labourer, worked his way through many jobs, first as a collier and then as a farm labourer and carpenter. He became an active unionist and was elected Secretary of the Welsh Miners Union. He joined the Communist Party, and was involved in the 1920 General Strike, but became disillusioned with politics and left to become a teacher
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In 1922 he won a scholarship to Cambridge University to study philosophy and languages, where he began to write fiction. It was during this period that he acquired the pen name W.H. Davies; he also published poetry under that name.
His first book appeared in 1926 under the pseudonym William Davies; it was followed by The House: A Comedy (1932), The Green Carnation (1936), and The Years Between (1942). He died in 1974 .