John Arthur "Jack" or "J.A." Andrews (27 October 1865 – 26 July 1903), was an Australian anarchist theoretician, agitator and journalist. He was also a poet and inventor and author of fiction. He was born in Bendigo,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

to John Andrews, a clerk, and his wife Eliza Mary Ann, whose maiden name was Barnett. He matriculated from

Scotch College, Melbourne (For God, for Country, and for Learning) , established = , type = Independent, day and boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Presbyterian , slogan = , ...

in 1881. Dismissed in 1886 from his clerical employment with the Victorian public service for "insubordination", he had already had occasional pieces published, including in the

Melbourne Herald ''The Herald'' was a morning and, later, evening broadsheet newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia, from 3 January 1840 to 5 October 1990, which is when it merged with its sister morning newspaper ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' to form the '' ...

where he won the poetry prize in 1885 for a poem about the Eight Hour Day. After dismissal he earned his living from his writing and was published in mainstream journals such as ''

Melbourne Punch ''Melbourne Punch'' (from 1900, simply titled ''Punch'') was an Australian illustrated magazine founded by Edgar Ray and Frederick Sinnett, and published from August 1855 to December 1925. The magazine was modelled closely on ''Punch'' of Londo ...

'' and ''The Bulletin'' and elsewhere. It is unclear when he joined the Melbourne Anarchist Club but was appearing at its meetings by early 1887, and rapidly became a significant member. In the Melbourne Anarchist Club he represented the communist anarchism pole, strongly influenced by

Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...

, and edited the club's journal ''Honesty''. He took an active part in the struggles of the day, notably the 1890 Australian maritime dispute and was involved with the Sydney direct action group, the Active Service Brigade. He was imprisoned for three months in NSW in 1894 for the publication of ''A Handbook of Anarchy'' (the actual charge being a technicality), and further imprisoned for five months (plus two months on remand) for sedition in 1895. Skilled in languages he corresponded continually with the European anarchist movement. His friend the poet and socialist

Bernard O'Dowd Bernard Patrick O'Dowd (11 April 1866 – 1 September 1953) was an Australian poet, activist, lawyer, and journalist. He worked for the Victorian colonial and state governments for almost 50 years, first as an assistant librarian at the Supreme ...

claimed that he was fluent in all the European languages except Russian, and also fluent in Latin and Chinese. He was known for his asceticism, his eccentricity, and his good humour, and was respected in the labour movement.

supported his appointment as editor of the labour journal ''Tocsin'' in 1902, a position he held for a few months before his health collapsed and he was hospitalized for tuberculosis. He died in hospital on 26 July 1903.

Selected works

* ''Temple Mystic and Other Poems'', 1888 * ''A handbook of anarchy'', 1894 * ''The Anarchist: organ of Anarchist Communism'', 1897 * ''What Is Communism?'' edited by Bob James, 1984

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, John Arthur 1865 births 1903 deaths 19th-century Australian inventors 19th-century Australian poets Australian anarchists 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Journalists from Victoria (state) People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne People from Bendigo Tuberculosis deaths in Australia