David Edward Lewis

David (Dafydd) Edward Lewis (7 March 1866 – 17 August 1941) was a Welsh-born businessman and philanthropist who emigrated to Australia and became well-known and successful there.^[1]

Lewis was born in Llanrhystud near Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales, the son of David Lewis, a farmer, and his wife Catherine, née Mason.^[1]

Lewis migrated to Melbourne, Australia, in 1890; opening a drapery shop in 1902 which became a successful business. In 1928 he donated £2000 to the engineering school of the University of Melbourne for laboratory extensions.^[1]

Scholarship funds

Lewis bequeathed a £700,000 endowment that after his death established the Dafydd Lewis Trust. This provided scholarships for full-time degree courses (other than in theology, arts, music or education) at the University of Melbourne for boys from Victorian state schools whose parents could not afford to pay for a university education.

Although the original scholarships helped to support post-graduate education as well as a first degree, as of 2024 only undergraduate study is supported, for up to three years.^[2]

In 2004 a parallel scholarship fund, the Mary Jane Lewis Foundation was established to give scholarships to female university students in Victoria at the undergraduate level.^[3] The fund is named after Dafydd Lewis' second wife Mary Jane Jones Evans.^[4][1]