Edward Harold Davies

Edward Harold Davies was born on 18 July 1867 at Oswestry, Shropshire, England, fourth son of John Whitridge Davies, accountant and amateur musician, and his wife Susan, née Gregory. (Sir) Harold attended Oswestry Grammar School and was then apprenticed in architecture, at the same time studying music with Joseph Bridge at Chester Cathedral.

In 1886 he arrived at Kapunda, South Australia, and next year moved to Gawler; he formed musical societies in both towns. He was in England in 1890 where he became an associate of the Royal College of Organists and was organist and choirmaster at the Chapel Royal, Windsor Park.

On 26 September 1893 at Gawler he married Ina Jane Deland; they had two daughters and three sons. Davies continued studying at the University of Adelaide (B.Mus., 1896; D.Mus., 1902, the first to be conferred by an Australian university). His examiner found him 'an enthusiastic musician of the classical school but with broad sympathies in the direction of modern romanticism'.

In 1902 Davies founded, and for twenty years conducted, the Adelaide Bach Society; as organist and choirmaster, he spent twenty years at Kent Town Methodist Church; he taught piano, organ, singing and composition both privately and at the Methodist Ladies College in 1910-19. 

Davies was appointed director of the Elder Conservatorium of Music and Elder professor of music in 1919 and served twenty-eight years as dean of the faculty of music. In 1920 he founded and conducted the South Australian Orchestra and played a major role in both founding and examining for the Australian Music Examinations Board. The fine staff he attracted to the conservatorium established a firm basis for the discipline of music in the State. The faculty of music recorded that he was 'an inspiration and a stimulus to students and professionals alike … And above all he … exemplified … to a high degree the place of music in the art of living'. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Music, London, in 1931.

An interest in Aboriginal music, aroused by Thomas Draper Campbell, led to Davies accompanying members of the university's Board of Anthropological Research on four expeditions to Central and outback South Australia in 1926-30. He was among the pioneering researchers who recorded Aboriginal song (his wax cylinders are in the South Australian Museum). The recordings were described by the board as 'probably the most successful attempt so far in this line of research'.

He is remembered as a person deeply interested in aesthetic values and in perfection and use of sound, widely read, sometimes intolerant, and retiring by nature; but once understood, his colleagues and students found him generous and helpful. He sought to reproduce the English musical scene of his background. Davies was forward looking and ahead of his time in many respects, but some considered that he stayed in the chair too long. He did not retire but died of a heart attack on 1 July 1947, and was cremated.