Arthur Henry Adams

Not to be confused with the president of the U.S. Rubber Co or the producer of the Adams automobile of 1905–1914..

Arthur Henry Adams
Arthur Henry Adams
Born	(1872-06-06)6 June 1872 Lawrence, New Zealand
Died	4 March 1936(1936-03-04) (aged 63) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Pen name	James James
Occupation	Journalist; Author; Poet
Alma mater	University of Otago
Spouse	Lily Paton

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, and educated at the University of Otago, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and began studying law. He then abandoned law to become a journalist in Wellington, 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 as a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald 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 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

References

Bibliography

• Andrew, B. G.; JordensA, Ann-Mari (1979). "'Adams, Arthur Henry (1872–1936)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
• Serle, Percival (1949). "Adams, Arthur Henry". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.

External links

• "Search: Arthur Henry Adams". National Library of Australia.
• Arthur Henry Adams— a collection of some of his sonnets.
• AustLit entry – detailed biographical information on Adams
• Works by or about Arthur Henry Adams at Internet Archive
• Works by Arthur Henry Adams at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)