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Horace Davis
Engraving byMoss, 1889
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's1st district
In office March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1881
Preceded by	William Adam Piper
Succeeded by	William Rosecrans
6th President of theUniversity of California
In office February, 1888 – April 1890
Preceded by	Edward S. Holden
Succeeded by	Martin Kellogg
Personal details
Born	(1831-03-16)March 16, 1831 Worcester,Massachusetts, United States
Died	July 12, 1916(1916-07-12) (aged 85) San Francisco, California, United States
Resting place	Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
Political party	Republican
Parent(s)	John Davis and Eliza Bancroft Davis
Relatives	seeDavis political family

Horace Davis (March 16, 1831 – July 12, 1916) was an American businessman who served two terms as aUnited States representative fromCalifornia from 1877 to 1881. He later served as president of theUniversity of California from 1887 to 1890.

He was the son ofMassachusetts GovernorJohn Davis and the younger brother of diplomatJohn Chandler Bancroft Davis.

Davis was born inWorcester, Massachusetts. He attended the Worcester public schools andWilliams College,Williamstown, Massachusetts, graduated fromHarvard University in 1849, and then studied law in theDane Law School of Harvard University, but did not engage in professional pursuits by reason of failing eyesight.

Davis sailed forSan Francisco, California, aroundCape Horn in 1852, and upon arriving, engaged for a brief time as a gold miner, a lumber supercargo surveyor for a coastalsteamer, and a purser for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. In addition he helped found the Mercantile Library Association of California (its oldest public library). Under his administrative tutelage interest in the library was restored with his creation of a library catalog (an act which later led to his poor eyesight). He resigned in 1855 and relocated to San Francisco in 1860 at which time he established the highly successful Golden Gate Flouring Mills and the Sperry Flour Company. He was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Society in 1862.^[1]

When theAmerican Civil War broke out, he served in the secretive San Francisco-basedHome Guard acting to secure both the loyalty of California to thenUnion PresidentAbraham Lincoln and the election ofLeland Stanford as governor of California (by patrolling the polls on election day).

He presided over the Produce Exchange of San Francisco from 1867 to 1877 until he was elected as aRepublican to theUnited States House of Representatives of theForty-fifth andForty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1877 - March 3, 1881), where on June 8, 1878, he spoke in support of a bill to restrict Chineseimmigration. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1880 to theForty-seventh Congress.

After his retirement from the Produce Exchange of San Francisco he presided over both the San FranciscoChamber of Commerce 1883–1884 and theSavings and Loan Society 1885 and served as a member of theRepublican National Committee 1880–1888.

In February, 1888 he was elected president of theUniversity of California, but resigned in April, 1890. He was named president of theboard of trustees ofStanford University by its original founder and served in this capacity from 1885 to 1916 where he effected its consolidation with the Wilmerding and Lux schools.

He served as president of theUniversity of California from 1887 to 1890.

Davis ran forMayor of San Francisco in1899, but lost to incumbentJames D. Phelan.

Married twice and a devoutUnitarian, he contributed greatly toStarr King School for the Ministry, (formerly the Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry). He was an active student of history and literature, his most noted work being an essay entitledAmerican Constitutions.

Davis died after an appendicitis operation in San Francisco in 1916 and was buried in Cypress Lawn Cemetery (nowCypress Lawn Memorial Park) in Colma, California.

• Davis political family

• United States Congress."Horace Davis (id: D000105)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Johnson, Allen; Malone, Dumas.Dictionary of American Biography. vol. III. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, N.Y. 1959.

• Horace Davis atFind a Grave

• 1831 births
• 1916 deaths
• 19th-century American librarians
• American Unitarians
• Harvard Law School alumni
• Politicians from San Francisco
• Politicians from Worcester, Massachusetts
• People of California in the American Civil War
• University of California, Berkeley faculty
• University of California regents
• Leaders of the University of California, Berkeley
• Williams College alumni
• Gardiner family
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
• Stanford University trustees
• Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

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