Agnes Rebecca Rose-Soley (1847 – 19 March 1938) was a Scottish-born Australian journalist and poet. She wrote under the pseudonyms Rose de Boheme and Pistachio and sometimes with her husband as A. J. Rose-Soley.

Life

Rose-Soley was born Agnes Rebecca Rose in Scotland in 1847 and grew up in France. She attended

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

, but unable to complete her studies due to ill health. Rose-Soley was theatre critic for the ''

Illustrated Sydney News ''The Illustrated Sydney News'' was a monthly English language newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History First published on 8 October 1853 by Walter George Mason (1820 – 12 March 1866), William Edward Vernon and Ludolf ...

'' under the pseudonym Pistachio in 1889 and 1890. She was married in 1891 in Balmain to John Fisher Soley, a journalist and naval artillery volunteer who had earlier enlisted and served in the Sudan in 1885. It was his second marriage: he had divorced his first wife, Alice Helena Soley, for adultery in 1890, naming actor Stilling Duff as co-respondent. The couple lived at Monad, a waterfront cottage in Clifton Street, East Balmain, where they entertained "all Bohemian Sydney" at "chic dinners". In 1893 she composed the lyrics and music for a "Marching Song" for the people who migrated to Paraguay that year to establish a settlement known as New Australia. She and her husband went to Samoa, where they lived on

Manono Island Manono is an island of Samoa, situated in the Apolima Strait between the main islands of Savai'i and Upolu, 3.4 km west-northwest off Lefatu Cape, the westernmost point of Upolu. There are four villages on the island with a total population ...

for two years. They then moved to San Francisco, where they wrote for newspapers for five years before spending a year in San Diego. After some time in London, they returned to Sydney in 1910. Rose-Soley founded in 1914 the Sydney Lyceum Club, of which poet Mary Gilmore was a founder-member. During World War I she wrote patriotic poems, some of which were printed as ''Stray Chords'' in 1923. Over the years her poems appeared in ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', ''

The Sydney Mail ''The Sydney Mail'' was an Australian magazine published weekly in Sydney. It was the weekly edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' newspaper and ran from 1860 to 1938. History ''The Sydney Mail'' was first published on 17 July 1860 by Joh ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' and ''

The Bulletin Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Debate, ...

'' in Australia, and in London's ''Speaker'' and ''Lyceum Journal'', San Francisco's ''Call'' and ''

Overland Monthly The ''Overland Monthly'' was a monthly literary and cultural magazine, based in California, United States. It was founded in 1868 and published between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. History The '' ...

'', and Honolulu's ''Independent''

Death

Rose-Soley died on 19 March 1938 at

Milsons Point, New South Wales Milsons Point is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of North Sydney Council. Mi ...

, and was buried at the Northern Suburbs Cemetery. Her husband died intestate in Young, New South Wales, in March 1944.

Works

*''Manoupa'', a novel (Digby, Long & Co., 1897) *''The Call of the Blood and other war verses'' (Sydney Lyceum Club, 1914) *''Stray Chords'', poetry (Tyrrell's Limited, 1923)

References

External links

*
Stray Chords
' – digitised and available through the

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose-Soley, Agnes 1847 births 1938 deaths Australian women poets