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.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Wilde, William |title=Australian Poets and Their Works |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 }}</ref><ref name=amer>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Adams, Arthur H.|year=1920}}</ref>

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).<ref name=amer/> 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 of septicaemia and pneumonia on 4 March 1936 in Sydney.<ref name="t554">{{cite web | last=Andrews | first=B. G. | last2=Jordens | first2=Ann-Mari | title=Arthur Henry Adams | website=Australian Dictionary of Biography | date=1979-01-01 | url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/adams-arthur-henry-4969 | access-date=2025-08-03}}</ref> He had married Lily Paton in 1908. She and two daughters and a son survived him.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Miller, E. Morris |author2=Macartney, Frederick T. |title=Australian Literature |publisher=Angus and Robertson |location=Sydney |year=1956 |page=29 }}</ref>

==Works==

===Verse=== *thumb|Adams, undated from ''The Bulletin''''Maoriland: 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) *''Galahad Jones'' (1909), illustrated by Norman Lindsay *''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<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

==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}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Arthur Henry}} Category:1872 births Category:1936 deaths 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 Category:New Zealand emigrants to Australia Category:New Zealand expatriates in China

Arthur Henry Adams

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