Henry Erle Seekamp (1829 - 19 January 1864) was a
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
, owner and editor of the ''Ballarat Times'' during the 1854
Eureka Rebellion
The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which ...
in Victoria, Australia. The newspaper was fiercely pro-miner, and he was responsible for a series of articles and several editorials that supported the
Ballarat Reform League
The Ballarat Reform League came into being in October 1853 and was officially constituted on 11 November 1854 at a mass meeting of miners in Ballarat, Victoria to protest against the Victorian government's mining policy and administration of the g ...
while condemning the government and police harassment of the diggers. After the Rebellion was put down, he was charged, found guilty of
seditious libel
Sedition and seditious libel were criminal offences under English common law, and are still criminal offences in Canada. Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection ...
, and imprisoned, becoming the only participant to receive gaol time.
After an embarrassingly public squabble with visiting actress
Lola Montez
Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld (17 February 1821 – 17 January 1861), better known by the stage name Lola Montez (), was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig ...
and the court case that resulted from it, he sold ''The Times'' and left Ballarat.
He died eight years later, aged only 35.
Life
Seekamp is thought to have been born in 1829 in London, England, however some historians point to his surname being of German origin.
After achieving a degree in Bachelor of Arts from an unknown university, and arriving in Victoria in 1852, he had reached the
Ballarat goldfields by 1853. He tried prospecting for gold, presumably meeting with some success as he was able to afford a printing press and the not inconsiderable cost of its transport to Ballarat in 1854.
During December 1853 he began living with another recent arrival, Irish born actress
Clara Maria Duvall. She and two of her three children adopted his surname, but there is no record of a marriage.
''The Ballarat Times'' was run in their household, on
Bakery Hill
Bakery Hill is an inner city suburb of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. It is the smallest suburb in the city of Ballarat in terms of both area and population, which at the was just 180 people. The area is a mix of residential and commercial ...
, close to Gravel Pits. The newspaper was successful, more land was purchased, and the small house they started with grew into a collection of buildings consisting of a printing office, stables, kitchen, separate residence, office and
coach-house.
He served as secretary to the committee that planned to build a hospital for the miners of Ballarat,
and was a great supporter of
The Ballarat Reform League in their lobbying to improve conditions for the men working at the diggings.
He was also responsible for printing the Ballarat Reform Charter and the many flyers advertising speakers and dates for the "monster meetings" organising support prior to the rebellion.
His fellow rebel,
Raffaello Carboni
Raffaello Carboni (15 December 1817 – 24 October 1875) was an Italian writer, composer and interpreter who wrote a book on the Eureka Stockade which he witnessed while living in Australia. After periods of travelling, he returned to Italy whe ...
described him as "a short, thick, rare sort of man, of quick and precise movements, sardonic countenance; and one look from his sharp round set of eyes, tells you at once that you must not trifle with him" commenting that he was; "Of a temper that must have cost him some pains to keep under control, he hates humbug and all sort of yabber-yabber".
Writings
At first Seekamp was hopeful of change from new Victorian
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Sir
Charles Hotham
Sir Charles Hotham, KCB, RN (14 January 180631 December 1855)B. A. Knox,Hotham, Sir Charles (1806–1855), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 429-430.
was Lieutenant-Governor and, later, Governor of Victoria, A ...
, who had told the miners he would not neglect their interests, and wrote an approving editorial after the Governors visit to the goldfields. But by September 1854 he was suggesting that despite protestations, Hotham had secretly ordered the police to invigorate the search for unlicensed miners. (''Ballarat Times'', 30 September 1854)
In increasingly strident editorial tone the four-page weekly
broadsheet newspaper
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid– compact formats.
Description
Many broadsheets measure rough ...
criticised the Government and supported the diggers movement. On the
Ballarat reform movement Seekamp wrote:
:"This league is nothing more or less than the germ of Australian independence. The die is cast, and fate has cast upon the movement its indelible signature. No power on earth can now restrain the united might and headlong strides for freedom of the people of this country ... The League has undertaken a mighty task, fit only for a great people – that of changing the dynasty of the country." (''Ballarat Times'' 18 November 1854).
His writing has been described as "flowery", to the point of causing some courtroom amusement at police difficulty in translating what they actually considered "sedition" from the somewhat florid language,
but
Geoffrey Blainey
Geoffrey Norman Blainey (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. He is noted for having written authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including '' The Tyranny ...
considers that while "extravagant at times... many of his sentences were compelling, eloquent and even pithy."
Much later in life, Clara Seekamp was quoted as saying "If
Peter Lalor
Peter Fintan Lalor (; 5 February 1827 – 9 February 1889) was an Irish-Australian rebel and, later, politician who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event identified with the "birth of democracy" in Australia. ...
was the sword of the movement, my husband was the pen."
Arrest and trial
On the day after the massacre at the Eureka Stockade, on 4 December 1854, Governor Hotham declared
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
in Ballarat.
Seekamp was arrested in his office, all copies of the newspaper were confiscated,
and he was charged with
sedition for a series of articles published in the ''Ballarat Times''. The articles may actually have been written by George Lang, son of prominent politician the Reverend
John Dunmore Lang, or James Manning;
historian Clare Wright theorises that his wife Clara may have been the author. Certainly Seekamp claimed that he had not written them, and had been away from Ballarat on business when they were printed as part of his defence. He was tried and convicted of
seditious libel
Sedition and seditious libel were criminal offences under English common law, and are still criminal offences in Canada. Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection ...
on 23 January 1855,
after the judge directed the jury that as a point of law, an editor was liable for the contents of his newspaper
and stated that in his opinion, the articles were seditious. After a series of appeals, the Chief Justice, Sir
William à Beckett
Sir William à Beckett (28 July 1806 – 27 June 1869) was a British barrister and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Background
Born in London, he was the eldest son of William à Beckett, also a solicitor. His younger b ...
, sentenced him to six months imprisonment on 23 March 1855. The thirteen men brought to trial after him were found either not guilty, or had their charges dropped. He was released from prison on 28 June 1855, three months early, after public outcry and a 3,000 signature petition organised by Clara Seekamp. He was the only man to spend time in prison as a result of actions during the rebellion.
During his imprisonment, his wife took over the editorial duties on the newspaper and proved similarly outspoken. He returned to Ballarat after he was released and continued to edit the ''Ballarat Times''.
Later life
![HenrySeekamp Advertisement Courier](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/HenrySeekamp_Advertisement_Courier.jpg)
In 1856 Seekamp wrote a scathing review in the ''Ballarat Times'' of visiting actress
Lola Montez
Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld (17 February 1821 – 17 January 1861), better known by the stage name Lola Montez (), was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig ...
and her erotic Spider Dance, criticising her for immorality. After taunting him onstage, Montez accosted him while he was drinking at a local hotel, chasing and beating him with her riding whip; Seekamp responded in kind, and the pair had to be separated by onlookers. Montez sued him for slander, and he sued her for assault. Both of these claims were dismissed, but Mr. Lewis, solicitor to Montez, personally sued for libel and was awarded 100 pounds.
This widely publicised, embarrassing incident and the consequent loss of popularity combined with Seekamp's failing health, led to the final sale of the ''Ballarat Times'' in October 1856.
Although present at the 2nd-anniversary celebrations of the Eureka Stockade in 1856, by 1860 he was editor of ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' in Twofold Bay, although that position ended in charges of embezzlement which were later dismissed. Seekamp eventually moved to
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
, where he advertised under the name "Mons. Henri Seekamp, formerly Professor in the Institut Chatelain, Paris" as a French language teacher in 1862.
Clara and the children remained in Melbourne.
He died of "natural causes accelerated by intemperance" at the
Clermont gold diggings in Queensland on 19 January 1864, at the age of 35.
He was inducted into the
Melbourne Press Club's Hall of Fame in 2012.
See also
*
Eureka Rebellion
The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which ...
*
Australian sedition law
*
Ballarat
References
External links
Brief for the Prosecution against Henry Seekamp (Seditious libel) - Public Records OfficePoem published by ''Melbourne Punch'' satirizing the fight between Lola Montez and Henry Seekamp.Henry Seekamp's advertisement in ''The Courier'' 16 September 1862
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seekamp, Henry
1829 births
1864 deaths
People from Ballarat
People convicted of sedition
19th-century Australian journalists
19th-century Australian male writers
19th-century male writers
Australian rebels
Australian male journalists