Arthur Henry Adams (6 June 1872 – 4 March 1936) was a journalist and author. He started his career in New Zealand, though he spent most of it in Australia, and for a short time lived in China and London.
Biography
Arthur Adams was born in
Lawrence, New Zealand
Lawrence is a small town in Otago, in New Zealand's South Island. It is located on State Highway 8, the main route from Dunedin to the inland towns of Queenstown and Alexandra. It lies 35 kilometres to the northwest of Milton, 11 kilometres no ...
, and educated at the
University of Otago
, image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = University clock tower
, motto = la, Sapere aude
, mottoeng = Dare to be wise
, established = 1869; 152 years ago
, type = Public research collegiate u ...
, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and began studying law. He then abandoned law to become a journalist in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
, where he began contributing poetry to ''
The Bulletin'', a Sydney periodical. He moved to Sydney in 1898, and took up a position as private secretary and literary advisor to
J.C. Williamson, a noted theatrical manager.
In 1900 Adams travelled to China to cover the
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
as a journalist for ''
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 ...
'' and several New Zealand papers. He would later return to New Zealand before moving to London in 1902, where he published several works including ''The Nazarene'' (1902) and ''London Streets'', a collection of poems (1906).
[ Adams returned to Australia in 1906, he took over from ]A. G. Stephens
Alfred George Stephens (28 August 1865 – 15 April 1933), commonly referred to as A. G. Stephens, was an Australian writer and literary critic, notably for ''The Bulletin (Australian periodical), The Bulletin''. He was appointed to that posit ...
as editor of the ''Bulletin's'' Red Page until 1909.
In addition to his poetry, Adams wrote both plays and novels. His most successful play was ''Mrs. Pretty and the Premier'', which was produced in 1914 by the Melbourne Repertory Theatre.
Adams died on 4 March 1936 in Sydney. He had married Lily Paton in 1908. She and two daughters and a son survived him.
Works
Verse
*''Maoriland: and Other Verses'' (1899)
*''Collected Verses of Arthur H. Adams'' (1913)
*''Australian Nursery Rimes'' (1917)
*''Fifty Nursery Rhymes with Music'' (1924)
Prose
*''The Nazarene: A Study of a Man'' (1902)
*''Tussock Land'' (1904)
*''London Streets'' (1906)
*''A Touch of Fantasy'' (1911)
*''The Knight and the Motor Launch'' (1913)
*''Three Plays for the Australian Stage'' (1914)
*''Double Bed Dialogues'' (1915)
*''Grocer Greatheart'' (1915)
*''Honeymoon Dialogues'' (1916), published as James James (pseudonym)
*''The Australians'' (1920)
*''Lola of the Chocolates'' (1929)
*''A Man's Life'' (1929)
Plays
*''Premier and Mrs Pretty'' (1914)
*''Galahad Jones'' (1910)
*''Gallipoli Bill'' (1914)
*''Doctor Death'' (1920)
*''The Tame Cat'' (1910)
Music
*''Evening Bells'' Waltz (1912)
*''Fill The Billy For The Boys'' with Neville Hampson
*''Love is Gold'' (Lyrics) with music by Leon Caron
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
Arthur Henry Adams
€” a collection of some of his sonnets.
AustLit entry
– detailed biographical information on Adams
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Arthur Henry
1872 births
1936 deaths
New Zealand reporters and correspondents
New Zealand male poets
Australian male poets
Australian reporters and correspondents
University of Otago alumni
People from Lawrence, New Zealand
20th-century New Zealand poets
20th-century Australian poets
Australian literary critics
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
New Zealand expatriates in China