Hilary Joseph Francis Lofting (23 May 1881 – 3 May 1939) was an Australian novelist, travel writer, journalist and editor. He was the eldest brother of

Hugh Lofting Hugh John Lofting (14 January 1886 – 26 September 1947) was an English American writer trained as a civil engineer, who created the classic children's literature character Doctor Dolittle. The fictional physician to talking animals, based in a ...

(1886–1947), author of ''

Doctor Dolittle Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in the ...

''.

Early life and education

Hilary Lofting was born in London, England, to John Brien Lofting and Elizabeth Agnes Gannon. He was of English and Irish descent. Lofting was the eldest of five boys and one girl. Lofting studied Architectural Engineering at

St Edmund's College, Cambridge St Edmund's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. Founded in 1896, it is the second-oldest of the four Cambridge colleges oriented to mature students, which accept only students reading for postgraduate degr ...

. After graduating, he was involved in railway construction around Ireland, continental Europe and Argentina as a civil engineer. He returned to England after finishing the work, and volunteered for military service, but was twice rejected.

Marriage

In 1915, Lofting married May Wheatcroft in London. The couple moved to Australia in 1917. He was encouraged by friends to write about his experiences in Buenos Aires, under the pseudonym of "Francis Brien". His travel writing was well received and caught the eye of

David McKee Wright David McKee Wright (6 August 1869 – 5 February 1928) was an Irish-born poet and journalist, active in New Zealand and Australia. Early life Wright was born at Ballynaskeagh, County Down, Ireland, the second son of Rev. William Wright, D.D. (1 ...

who was editor of '' The Bulletin'', and published Lofting's writing. Lofting decided to be a full-time writer and quit civil engineering, but May was opposed to his career change. The following year, Lofting was remarried to Margaret Fane, who was Wright's ex-wife. Lofting and Fane collaborated on short stories published in ''

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 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 other magazines. Lofting was friends with

Christopher Brennan Christopher John Brennan (1 November 1870 – 5 October 1932) was an Australian poet, scholar and literary critic. Biography Brennan was born in Haymarket, an inner suburb of Sydney, to Christopher Brennan (d. 1919), a brewer, and his wife Ma ...

, who spent more than a year in Lofting's house until 1926.

Death

In 1939, Lofting died in the Sydney suburb of Manly. He was listed alongside

Edward J. O'Brien Edward Joseph Harrington O'Brien (1890–1941) was a U.S. writer, poet, editor and anthologist. As Edward J. O'Brien, he created a series of annual anthologies containing his selection of the previous year's best short stories by U.S. authors, ...

Henry Handel Richardson Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson (3 January 187020 March 1946), known by her pen name Henry Handel Richardson, was an Australian author. Life Born in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, into a prosperous family that later fell on hard tim ...

and Alan Marshall as one of the excellent short story writers in Australia.

Works

*
The Happy Vagabond
' (1928, co-author with Margaret Fane) *
Bail Up!: Ned Kelly, Bushranger
' (1939)

Introduction

* ''

For the Term of his Natural Life ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' is a story written by Marcus Clarke and published in '' The Australian Journal'' between 1870 and 1872 (as ''His Natural Life''). It was published as a novel in 1874 and is the best known novelisation of life ...

'' (by

Marcus Clarke Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (24 April 1846 – 2 August 1881) was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel ''For the Term of His Natural Life'', about the co ...

, 1929 edition)

Notes

References

Michael Sharkey Michael Sharkey (born 1 August 1946 in Canterbury, New South Wales) is an Australian poet, resident in Castlemaine in the goldfields region of Victoria. He studied at the University of Sydney, where he was awarded a BA degree in 1972, and then ...

/ Romantic and modern: country and city in the short stories of Margaret Fane and Hilary Lofting, ''Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature'', Vol 12, No 3 (2012)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lofting, Hilary 1881 births 1939 deaths 20th-century Australian novelists Alumni of St Edmund's College, Cambridge Australian magazine editors Australian male short story writers Australian travel writers English emigrants to Australia Engineers from London 20th-century Australian short story writers 20th-century Australian male writers Australian male novelists 20th-century Australian journalists