Many of the tributes paid to Davies after his death acknowledged his commitment to Merthyr and the mining communities of the Welsh valleys, for which he was an unfailing advocate. The mayor of Merthyr remarked that he was "an individualist who followed the teaching of 'Love thy neighbour as thyself'. He was highly respected by all, even by those who didn't agree with him". His parliamentary colleague and fellow mineworker Jim Griffiths, who had shared with Davies the leadership of the South Wales miners after the 1926 general strike, thought that had Davies cultivated an ability for compromise, he would have achieved ministerial office. But "he always was a lone figure ... and seemed to like being in isolation."