Early life

Davis was born on 20 December 1867 in Sydney, New South Wales, into a Jewish family.^[3] His father Eleazor (or Eleazer) M. Davis, originally from Exeter,^[4] was a businessman,^[2] importing and selling a variety of goods from their shop "The Civet Cat" (also known as "The Civet Cat Fancy and General Repository"^[5] and "The Civet Cat Fancy Bazaar")^[6] at 98 King Street in central Sydney.^[2][7] His mother Frances (Fanny) Matilda Lazarus of London^[4] raised Herbert and his elder brother Edward Davis, and suffered a number of miscarriages between the births of the two boys.^[2]

In December 1865, a fire destroyed a great deal of the shop's stock — more than they were insured for.^[2][8] They relocated briefly to George Street^[9] before returning to their original location a year later.^[10] Five years before the fire, the business had also briefly been declared insolvent and was unable to reopen until 1863.^[11][12]

Davis' mother died in 1888, when Davis was 19,^[2] and his father died in 1908 at his son Edward's home after returning to London.^[13]

Not much is known of Davis' education, but by the age of 21 he was a member of the Hebrew Literary and Debating Society, debating at the Great Synagogue.^[2] Soon after this he moved to Western Australia.

Marriage and family

Davis married Miriam Louise "May" Levine in August 1894 and, a little over a year later, their daughter, Gladys Elizabeth "Poppy", was born in Fremantle.^[2][14] After Davis' death, May and Poppy were both nurses at St. Omer's Hospital in Perth^[15][16] before Poppy moved to Melbourne and became engaged to Bombay-based accountant John Hewet Hardie.^[17] Davis only had one grandchild, Hewitt Ian, who died in Bombay in March 1920 at two days old.^[18] Poppy died in February 1972 and left the public trustee as the sole executioner of her will.^[19][20]