Mary Davies was born 17 October 1846, in
Portmadoc (so spelt at the time),
North Wales, where she resided for the whole of her life. She was the eldest daughter of Captain Lewis Davies and his wife Jennet, who ran the
Tregunter Arms, a public house in Portmadoc. She was educated at a private school there, maintained by a daughter of the writer
William Rees, better known by his
bardic name Gwilym Hiraethog. ==Verse and appreciation==