William Arthur Dunkerley (12 November 1852 – 23 January 1941) was an
English journalist,
novelist and
poet. He was born in
Manchester, spent a short time after his marriage in the US before moving to
Ealing
Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Ealing was histor ...
, West London, where he served as deacon and teacher at the Ealing Congregational Church from the 1880s. In 1922 he moved to
Worthing in
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
, where he became the town's
mayor.
Dunkerley wrote under his own name, and also as John Oxenham for his poetry, hymn-writing, and novels. His poetry includes ''Bees in Amber: A Little Book of Thoughtful Verse'' (1913), which became a bestseller. He also wrote the poem "Greatheart". In 1918, wrote the foreword and assessed the poetry of the administrator of the
Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service
The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Services (SWH) was founded in 1914. It was led by Dr. Elsie Inglis and provided nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, cooks and orderlies. By the end of World War I, 14 medical units had been outfitted and ...
,
Mary H. J. Henderson
Mary H J Henderson (born 1874 – 6 November 1938) was an administrator with Elsie Inglis's Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service in the Balkans in World War I, earning five medals. She founded social work and civic groups led by women, ...
''In War and Peace: Songs of a Scotswoman.''
He used the
pseudonym Julian Ross for journalism.
His novel ''A Mystery of the Underground'' (1897) is notable both as an early murder story about a serial killer and a very early crime story set on the
London Underground (District Line). The
District Railway
The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first par ...
complained that it was "too realistic", and it is said to have led to a reduction of passengers on Tuesdays (the murderer always strikes on a Tuesday) while it was being serialised.
In February 1892
Robert Barr and Dunkerley founded ''
The Idler'', a monthly "general interest magazine, one of the first to appear following the enthusiastic reception of
''The Strand'', but not a slavish imitation". Barr and Dunkerley/Oxenham both contributed as writers. The editors were Barr and
Jerome K. Jerome initially.
[
Dunkerley had two sons and four daughters, of whom the eldest, and eldest child, Elsie Jeanette, became well known as a children's writer, particularly through her ]Abbey Series
The Abbey Series of British novels by Elsie J. Oxenham comprises 38 titles which were published between 1914 and 1959. The first title, ''Girls of the Hamlet Club'' set the scene for the school aspects of the series, but it is the second title, ...
of girls' school stories. Another daughter, Erica, also used the Oxenham pen-name.
Published books
* ''A Mystery of the Underground '' (1897, serialised in ''Today'' magazine)
* ''God's Prisoner'' (1898)
* ''A Princess of Vascovy'' (1899)
* ''Under the Iron Flail'' (1902)
* ''Barbe of Grand Bayou'' (1903)
* ''Bondman Free'' (1903)
* ''Hearts in Exile'' (1904)
* ''John of Gerisau'' (1904)
* ''A Weaver of Webs'' (1904)
* ''White Fire'' (1905)
* ''Giant Circumstance'' (1906)
* ''Profit and Loss'' (1906)
* ''The Long Road'' (1907)
* ''Carette of Sark'' (1907)Roderick Dunkerley
Roderic Dunkerley (July 20, 1884 – May 6, 1966) was an English minister and Christian writer. Born in Bedford Park, Ealing, West London, he was the son of William Arthur Dunkerley ( John Oxenham). The novelist Elsie J. Oxenham was his sister, a ...
* ''Cross-Roads: The Story of Four Meetings'' (1931)
* ''A Saint in the Making'' (1931)
* ''Christ and the Third Wise Man'' (1934)
References
External links
Biography
at the Cyber Hymnal (archived)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunkerley, William Arthur
1852 births
1941 deaths
English Congregationalists
English male journalists
English male poets
People from Ealing
People from Worthing
Writers from Manchester