Herbert Nathaniel Davis

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.

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]