Margaret Davies
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Margaret Sidney Davies (December 14, 1884 – March 13, 1963), was a granddaughter of the philanthropist David Davies Llandinam. She and her elder sister Gwendoline became famous as patrons of the arts in Wales.
Like her sister Gwen, Margaret was born at Llandinam and educated at Highfield School in Hendon. They and their brother David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, were the children of Edward Davies, the only son of David Davies Llandinam. Herself an amateur painter, Margaret shared Gwen's hobby of collecting works by the Impressionists and other contemporary artists. It was Margaret who began the collection in 1906, when she purchased a painting by Hercules Brabazon Brabazon. By 1913, the two sisters had accumulated enough paintings to host an exhibition at Cardiff City Hall.
During World War I, Gwen and Margaret worked as volunteers for the French Red Cross, having already travelled extensively in France. They also offered asylum in Wales to the Belgian artists George Minne, Valerius de Saedeleer and Gustave van de Woestyne. In the early 1920s, they moved into Gregynog Hall at Newtown, Montgomeryshire. In 1922, they founded the Gregynog Press and in 1933 they launched the Gregynog Festival, a music festival that was revived in 1988 and continues today.
In 1960, some years after her sister's death, Margaret Davies donated Gregynog to the University of Wales for use as an arts centre. She died in London, and her ashes were buried along with her sister's at Llandinam. Their collection of paintings and sculptures, which Margaret had expanded after Gwen's death, was bequeathed to the National Museum of Wales, forming the nucleus of its art collection.
