Arthur Henry Adams
{{short description|New Zealand–Australian poet and journalist}}
{{distinguish|text=the president of the U.S. Rubber Co or the producer of the Adams automobile of 1905–1914.}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| embed =
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Arthur Henry Adams
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Arthur Henry Adams (1872-1936).jpg
| image_size = 200
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption = Arthur Henry Adams
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| pseudonym = James James
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1872|06|06|df=y}}
| birth_place = Lawrence, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1936|03|04|1872|12|06|df=y}}
| death_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| resting_place =
| occupation = Journalist; Author; Poet
| language =
| residence =
| nationality =
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater = University of Otago
| home_town =
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks =
| spouse = Lily Paton
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
| awards =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| years_active =
| module =
| website =
| portaldisp =
}}
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.{{cite book |editor=Wilde, William |title=Australian Poets and Their Works |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 }}{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Adams, Arthur H.|year=1920}}
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.{{cite book |author1=Miller, E. Morris |author2=Macartney, Frederick T. |title=Australian Literature |publisher=Angus and Robertson |location=Sydney |year=1956 |page=29 }}
Works
=Verse=
- File:Arthur Henry Adams.pngMaoriland: and Other Verses (1899)
- London Streets (1906)
- 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)
- 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)
- The Wasters (1910)
=Music=
- Evening Bells Waltz (1912)
- Fill The Billy for the Boys with Neville Hampson
- Love is Gold (Lyrics) with music by Leon Caron{{Citation
| author1=Caron, Leon.
| author2=Adams, Arthur H.
| title=Love is gold reverie et valse chantante
| publication-date=n.d.
| publisher=W.H. Glen & Co
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-165152495
| access-date=26 July 2018
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{Australian Dictionary of Biography|author1=Andrew, B. G. |author2=JordensA, Ann-Mari |year=1979 |id=A070011b |title='Adams, Arthur Henry (1872–1936) |accessdate=2008-01-16}}
- {{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Arthur Henry|Last=Adams|shortlink=0-dict-biogA.html#adams1}}
External links
{{commons category}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
- {{cite web|url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=author%3A%28Arthur+Henry+Adams%29&type=author&limit%5B%5D=&submit=Find |title=Search: Arthur Henry Adams |via=National Library of Australia }}
- [http://www.sonnets.org/adamsah.htm Arthur Henry Adams]— a collection of some of his sonnets.
- [http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A$Ps AustLit entry] – detailed biographical information on Adams
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=Arthur Henry Adams |sopt=t}}
- {{Librivox author |id=1611}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Arthur Henry}}
Category:New Zealand reporters and correspondents
Category:New Zealand male poets
Category:Australian male poets
Category:Australian reporters and correspondents
Category:University of Otago alumni
Category:People from Lawrence, New Zealand
Category:20th-century New Zealand poets
Category:20th-century Australian poets
Category:Australian literary critics