James Hebblethwaite (22 September 1857 – 13 September 1921) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man.

Life

Hebblethwaite was born in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distr ...

, England, the son of William Hebblethwaite, a corn miller, and his wife Margaret, ''née'' Cundall. His family was originally prosperous but later suffered heavy financial losses, and Hebblethwaite practically educated himself by gaining scholarships. Hebblethwaite was at

St John's College, Battersea Sir Walter St John's was founded in 1700 for twenty boys of the village of Battersea. As the population and the English educational system changed, so did the school. The school was colloquially known as "Sinjuns" and was finally closed in 1986-7. ...

, London in 1877-8, and entering on a teaching life became headmaster of a board school, and lecturer in English at the Harris Institute, Preston. In 1892 Hebblethwaite emigrated to

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

for health reasons, and obtained a position on the staff of the Friends' School, Hobart. In 1896 a little volume, ''Verse'', was published at

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

. About this time he entered the

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

ministry, and in 1899 was principal of Queen's College, Latrobe, Tasmania. In 1900 ''A Rose of Regret'' was published. He was ordained as a deacon in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

in 1903 and in 1904 became a priest. He was vicar of

George Town, Tasmania George Town ( Palawa_kani: ''kinimathatakinta'') is a large town in north-east Tasmania, on the eastern bank of the mouth of the Tamar River. The Australian Bureau of Statistics records the George Town Municipal Area had a population of 6,764 a ...

, from 1905 to 1908, Swansea, Tasmania, from 1908 to 1909, and

D'Entrecasteaux Channel The D'Entrecasteaux Channel is a body of water located between Bruny Island and the south-east of the mainland of Tasmania, Australia. The channel is the mouth for the estuaries of the Derwent and the Huon Rivers and empties into the Tasman S ...

from 1909 to 1916, when he retired. Another volume, ''Meadow and Bush'', had appeared in 1911, and a collected edition of his poems in 1920. ''New Poems'' was published in 1921 and he died in that year. In addition to his poetry he wrote a novel, ''Castle Hill'', published in England in 1895. He was twice married and left a widow and one son. Hebblethwaite was a man of charming personality. Apparently immersed in a world of dreams, he never allowed himself to neglect his work as a parish clergyman. He was interested in his young men and their sports, and his own simple and sincere piety earned him much respect and affection. As a writer of lyrical poems he has a secure place among the Australian poets of his time.

Bibliography

Novel

* ''Castlehill: Or, a Tale of Two Hemispheres'' (1895)

Poetry collections

* ''Verse'' (1896) * '' A Rose of Regret'' (1900) * ''Meadow and Bush: A Book of Verses'' (1911) * ''The Poems of James Hebblethwaite'' (1920) * ''New Poems of James Hebblethwaite'' (1921)

References

External Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hebblethwaite, James 1857 births 1921 deaths Australian poets Australian people of English descent Schoolteachers from Preston, Lancashire