Editing Robertson Davies (section)

===Early life===
Davies was born in Thamesville, Ontario, the third son of [[William Rupert Davies]] and Florence Sheppard McKay.<ref name="RD">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robertson-davies|title=Robertson Davies|encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|access-date=8 September 2019}}</ref> Growing up, Davies was surrounded by books and lively language. His father, a member of the Canadian Senate from 1942 to his death in 1967, was a newspaperman from [[Welshpool]], [[Wales]], and both parents were voracious readers. He followed in their footsteps and read everything he could. He also participated in theatrical productions as a child, where he developed a lifelong interest in drama.

He spent his formative years in [[Renfrew, Ontario]] (and renamed it as "Blairlogie", in his novel ''What's Bred in the Bone''); many of the novel's characters are named after families he knew there. He attended [[Upper Canada College]] in Toronto from 1926 to 1932 and while there attended services at the [[Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Toronto)|Church of St. Mary Magdalene]].<ref>[http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/cunning_man.html Penguin USA: Book Club Reading Guides: The Cunning Man] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427121806/http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/cunning_man.html |date=27 April 2006 }}</ref> He would later leave the [[Presbyterian Church in Canada|Presbyterian Church]] and join [[Anglican Church of Canada|Anglicanism]] over objections to [[Calvinist]] theology. Davies later used his experience of the ceremonial of High Mass at St. Mary Magdalene's in his novel ''The Cunning Man''.

After Upper Canada College, he studied at [[Queen's University, Canada|Queen's University]] at [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]], Ontario, from 1932 until 1935. According to the ''[[Queen's University Journal]]'' Davies enrolled as a special student not working towards a degree, because he was unable to pass the mathematics component of Queen's entrance exam.<ref name=queensjournal2010-06-29/>  At Queen's he wrote for the student paper, ''[[The Queen's Journal]]'', where he wrote a literary column. He left Canada to study at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], where he received a BLitt degree in 1938. The next year he published his thesis, ''[[Shakespeare's Boy Actors]]'', and embarked on an acting career outside London. In 1940, he played small roles and did literary work for the director at the [[Old Vic|Old Vic Repertory Company]] in London. Also that year, Davies married Australian [[Brenda Davies|Brenda Mathews]], whom he had met at Oxford, and who was then working as [[Stage management|stage manager]] for the theatre.<ref name="RD"/> They spent their honeymoon in the Welsh countryside at [[Fronfraith Hall]], [[Abermule]], [[Montgomery, Powys|Montgomery]], the family house owned by Rupert Davies.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=English |editor-first=E. |year=1999 |title=A Collected History of the Communities of Llandyssil, Abermule and Llanmerewig |publisher=Llandyssil Community Council}} Section 6, pt. 1.</ref>

Davies's early life provided him with themes and material to which he would often return in his later work, including the theme of Canadians returning to England to finish their education, and the theatre.