Davies was born on Robben Island in 1909, where her father was a doctor. In 1935 she started work at the Cape Archives Depot and in 1944 she transferred to the Transvaal Archives Depot. In 1957 she was appointed head of the new Liaison Department, and was involved with selecting documents and advising the government on filing. After a period in England, Davies was appointed as head of the Cape Archives Depot and stayed in this position until her retirement. She was the first woman to be an archivist and the first female head of an archives depot, as until this point women had only been assistants. Davies was also a member of many different societies, including the Pretoria Historical Society.
E.J. Verwey (ed), New dictionary of South African biography. Pretoria, 1995, pp 58-59