Jocelyn Henry Clive 'Harry' Graham (23 December 1874 – 30 October 1936) was an English writer. He was a successful journalist and later, after distinguished military service, a leading lyricist for

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its ...

s and musical comedies, but he is now best remembered as a writer of humorous verse in a style of grotesquerie and

black humour Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

Life

Family and education

Graham was the second son of Sir Henry Graham, KCBBlack, A & C
"Graham, Captain Harry J. C."
''Who Was Who'' 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2007, Retrieved 19 November 2008 (1842–1930),

Clerk of the Parliaments The Clerk of the Parliaments is the chief clerk of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The position has existed since at least 1315, and duties include preparing the minutes of Lords proceedings, advising on proper parlia ...

, and his first wife, Lady Edith Elizabeth Gathorne-Hardy,Hogg, Jame
"Graham, Jocelyn Henry Clive (1874–1936)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, May 2006, Retrieved 19 November 2008 who died two weeks after Harry's birth. Graham's elder brother Ronald Graham entered the diplomatic service, becoming Ambassador to Italy (1921–33).''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' obituary, 31 October 1936, p. 14. Graham was educated at Eton and the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

Military career

Graham was commissioned into the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

on 6 March 1895, and was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 9 January 1898. From March 1899 to 1901 and again in 1902–1904 he served as aide-de-camp to

Lord Minto Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The current earl is Gilbert Timothy George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynm ...

, Governor-General of Canada. In the intervening year, he served in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

(supernumerary) on 20 April 1901, and received a regular commission from his regiment in August 1902, as he returned to Canada. Graham kept a journal of his trip across Canada with Minto to the Klondike Gold Rush in the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

in 1900, called ''Across Canada to the Klondyke'', which he later presented to Minto, and which was eventually published. Graham retired from the army in 1904, and became private secretary to the former Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery, 1904–06. On the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in 1914, Graham rejoined the Coldstream Guards and served in France in the 40th and 5th divisions.

Marriage and later life

Graham was engaged to

Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regard ...

, but they did not marry. He married Dorothy Villiers in 1910, and they had a daughter,

Virginia Graham Virginia Graham, born Virginia Komiss, (July 4, 1912 – December 22, 1998) was an American daytime television talk show host from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. On television, Graham hosted the syndicated programs ''Food for Thought'' (1953 ...

, who followed him as a writer, contributing many articles to ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pu ...

''. Graham died of cancer in London in 1936, aged 61. A memorial service for him was held in

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

Career as a writer

Light verse

His first published works appeared during his military career. In 1906, he became a full-time writer, as a journalist and author of light verse, popular fiction and history, including ''A Group of Scottish Women'' (1908). Graham is best remembered for his series of cheerfully cruel ''Ruthless Rhymes'', first published in 1898 under the pseudonym Col. D. Streamer, a reference to his regiment. These were described by ''

'', in an editorial that compared him to

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. His principal ...

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

and

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

, as "that enchanted world where there are no values nor standards of conduct or feeling, and where the plainest sense is the plainest nonsense".''The Times'', 31 October 1936, p. 13. The ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' also compares his verse with that of W. S. Gilbert and suggests that his prose was an early influence on P. G. Wodehouse. Graham's other light verse exhibited a delight in language, and not only his native one, as in his response to the news that

Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

, visiting Brussels, spoke at length with Baron de Haulleville, Director of the Congo Museum, in French, German and English: the poem began:

Guten Morgen, mon ami!
Heute ist es schönes Wetter!
Charmé de vous voir ici!
Never saw you looking better!

An example of a ''Ruthless Rhyme'' is:

Father heard his children scream
So he threw them in the stream
Saying, as he drowned the third,
"Children should be seen, not heard!"

Graham's pleasure in word-play is illustrated in his poem on "Poetical Economy":

When I’ve a syllable de trop,
I cut it off, without apol.:
This verbal sacrifice, I know,
May irritate the schol.;
But all must praise my dev’lish cunn.
Who realise that Time is Mon.

Some of the ''Ruthless Rhymes'' involved ''Little Willie'', a poetic personification of youthful mischief, whose gruesome acts of violence with indifferent or cheerfully inappropriate responses inspired readers to compose similar verses. The most common format of these poems was a four lines in trochaic tetrameter. Victor Hely-Hutchinson composed a series of song settings for the poems published as ''Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes'' in 1945 and 1946. The only substantial anthology of Graham's verse is ''When Grandmama Fell Off the Boat: The Best of Harry Graham''. The latest edition was published by Sheldrake Press in 2009.

Lyricist and translator

During the war, Graham started to write lyrics for English operettas and musical comedies, including ''Tina'' (1915), ''Sybil'' (1916), the 1917 hit

'' The Maid of the Mountains'' and ''

A Southern Maid ''A Southern Maid'' is an operetta in three acts composed by Harold Fraser-Simson, with a book by Dion Clayton Calthrop and Harry Graham and lyrics by Harry Graham and Harry Miller. Additional music was provided by Ivor Novello and George H. ...

'' (1920), and English adaptations of European operettas such as ''

Whirled into Happiness ''Whirled into Happiness'' is a Edwardian musical comedy, musical comedy with music by Robert Stolz, and book and lyrics by Harry Graham (poet), Harry Graham, adapted from Stolz's ''Der Tanz ins Glück'', with a libretto by Robert Bodanzky and . ...

'' (1922), '' Madame Pompadour'' (1923), '' The Land of Smiles'' (1931) and many others. His best known lyrics were "You are my heart's delight", his English version of " Dein ist mein ganzes Herz", from ''The Land of Smiles'', composed by

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; hu, Lehár Ferenc ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is ''The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life a ...

(and made famous by the popular tenor

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...

), and "Goodbye", from his English adaptation of '' The White Horse Inn'' (originally "Adieu, mein kleiner Gardeoffizier" from Robert Stolz's operetta ''Die lustigen Weiber von Wien'', a song which later achieved great popularity as sung by Josef Locke).

Published works

*1899: ''Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes''; words by Col. D. Streamer; illustrations by G. H. Obl. 8vo., 59 pp. London: Edward Arnold (both words and drawings are by Graham) *Little Miss Nobody (1901) *Ballads of the Boer War (1902) *Baby's Baedeker (1902) *Perverted Proverbs (1903) *Misrepresentative Men (1904) *Fiscal Ballads (1905) *More Misrepresentative Men (1905) *Verse and Worse (1905) *A Song-Garden for Children (1906) *Misrepresentative Women (1906) *Familiar Faces (1907) *A Group of Scottish Women (1908) *Deportmental Ditties (1909) *The Mother of Parliaments (1910) *The Bolster Book (1910) *Lord Bellinger An Autography (1911) *Canned Classics (1911) *The Perfect Gentleman (1912) *The Motley Muse (1913) *Splendid Failures (1913) *The Cinema Star (1914) *The Complete Sportsman (1914) *State Secrets (1914) *Tina (1915) *Sybil (1916) * The Maid of the Mountains (1917) *Rhymes for Riper Years (1919) *Biffon and His Circle (1919) *Our Peg (1919) *

(1920) *A Little Dutch Girl (1920) *The Lady of the Rose (1921) *

(1922) *Head over Heels (1923) * Madame Pompadour (1923) *The World we Laugh in (1924) *Our Nell (1924) *The Buried Cable (or Dirty Work at the Crossroads) (1924) *Toni (1924) *Orange Blossom (1924) *Betty in Mayfair (1924) *Cleopatra (1925) *Riquette (1925) *The Grand Duchess (1925) *Katja the Dancer (1925) *Clo-Clo (1925) *The Last of the Biffins (1925) *Merry Molly (1926) *My Son John (1926) *The Blue Mazurka (1926) *Strained Relations (1926) *Lady Mary (1928) *By Candle Light (1928) *The World's Workers (1928) *Hunter's Moon (1929) *Adams Apples (1930) *More Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes (1930) *The Good Companions (1931) *Laiting in Waiting (1931) * White Horse Inn (1931) * The Land of Smiles (1931) * Viktoria and her Hussar,

Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including: Australia * Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria *Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales Canada *Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, M ...

(1931) *Casanova (1932) *Rise and Shine (1932) *Roulette (1932) *Doctor Orders (1932) *The Biffin Papers (1933) *Happy Families (1934) *The Private Life of Gregory Gorm (1936) ;Posthumous publication *1984: ''Across Canada to the Klondyke''; edited and with an introduction by Frances Bowles. Toronto: Methuen (A travel diary) ;Anthology *1986: ''When Grandmama Fell off the Boat: the best of Harry Graham inventor of ruthless rhymes''; with an introduction by

Miles Kington Miles Beresford Kington (13 May 1941 – 30 January 2008) was a British journalist, musician (a double bass player for Instant Sunshine and other groups) and broadcaster. He is also credited with the invention of Franglais, a fictional language, ...

. (Methuen Humour Classics.) London: Methuen **--do.--1988, Harper Collins **--do.--2009, Sheldrake Press

Notes

References

Information about Graham and his writings
* Sleeve Notes for the Hyperion recording of '' The Maid of the Mountains''
Dutch site about Graham with images and many helpful links
* Lennard, John: ''The Poetry Handbook: A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and Practical Criticism'', Oxford University Press, 2005, * Norwich, John Julius (compiler): ''Still More Christmas Crackers'', Viking, London 2000,

External links

"Ruthless Rhymes: A site dedicated to the poetry of Harry Graham and the myriad of morbid poets he inspired"
*
Photo of Graham and interview of his niece from the BBC Radio 4
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Harry 1874 births 1936 deaths Humorous poets Coldstream Guards officers People educated at Eton College Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst English male non-fiction writers English male poets English male journalists 19th-century English poets 20th-century English poets English musical theatre librettists British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I Off-color humor