Agnes Rebecca Rose-Soley (1847 – 19 March 1938) was a Scottish-born Australian journalist and poet. She wrote under the pseudonyms Rose de Boheme and Pistachio and sometimes with her husband as A. J. Rose-Soley.
Life
Rose-Soley was born Agnes Rebecca Rose in Scotland in 1847 and grew up in France.
She attended
Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...
, but unable to complete her studies due to ill health.
Rose-Soley was theatre critic for the ''
Illustrated Sydney News
''The Illustrated Sydney News'' was a monthly English language newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
History
First published on 8 October 1853 by Walter George Mason (1820 – 12 March 1866), William Edward Vernon and Ludolf ...
'' under the pseudonym Pistachio in 1889 and 1890.
She was married in 1891 in
Balmain to John Fisher Soley, a journalist and naval artillery volunteer who had earlier enlisted and served in the Sudan in 1885. It was his second marriage: he had divorced his first wife, Alice Helena Soley, for adultery in 1890, naming actor Stilling Duff as co-respondent.
The couple lived at Monad, a waterfront cottage in Clifton Street,
East Balmain, where they entertained "all Bohemian Sydney" at "chic dinners".
In 1893 she composed the lyrics and music for a "Marching Song" for the people who migrated to Paraguay that year to establish a settlement known as
New Australia
New Australia was a utopian socialist settlement in Paraguay created by the New Australian Movement. The colony was officially founded on 28 September 1893 as Colonia Nueva Australia and comprised 238 people.
History
The New Australi ...
.
She and her husband went to Samoa, where they lived on
Manono Island
Manono is an island of Samoa, situated in the Apolima Strait between the main islands of Savai'i and Upolu, 3.4 km west-northwest off Lefatu Cape, the westernmost point of Upolu. By population, as well as by area, it is Samoa’s third larges ...
for two years. They then moved to San Francisco, where they wrote for newspapers for five years before spending a year in San Diego. After some time in London, they returned to Sydney in 1910.
Rose-Soley founded in 1914 the Sydney Lyceum Club, of which poet
Mary Gilmore
Dame Mary Jean Gilmore (née Cameron; 16 August 18653 December 1962) was an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and the broader national discourse. She wrote both prose and poetry.
Gi ...
was a founder-member. During World War I she wrote patriotic poems, some of which were printed as ''Stray Chords'' in 1923.
Over the years her poems appeared in ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'', ''
The Sydney Mail
''The Sydney Mail'' was an Australian magazine published weekly in Sydney. It was the weekly edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' newspaper and ran from 1860 to 1938.
History
''The Sydney Mail'' was first published on 17 July 1860 by J ...
'', ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' and ''
The Bulletin'' in Australia, and in London's ''Speaker'' and ''Lyceum Journal'', San Francisco's ''Call'' and ''
Overland Monthly
The ''Overland Monthly'' was a monthly literary magazine, literary and cultural magazine, based in California, United States. It was founded in 1868 and published between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th centu ...
'', and Honolulu's ''Independent''
Death
Rose-Soley died on 19 March 1938 at
Milsons Point, New South Wales
Milsons Point is a suburb on the lower North Shore (Sydney), North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located three kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government a ...
, and was buried at the Northern Suburbs Cemetery.
Her husband died intestate in
Young, New South Wales
Young is a town in the South Western Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, and the largest town in the Hilltops Region. The "Lambing Flat" Post Office opened on 1 March 1861 and was renamed "Young" in 1863.
Young is marketed as the Che ...
, in March 1944.
Works
*''Manoupa'', a novel (Digby, Long & Co., 1897)
*''The Call of the Blood and other war verses'' (Sydney Lyceum Club, 1914)
*''Stray Chords'', poetry (Tyrrell's Limited, 1923)
References
External links
*
Stray Chords' – digitised and available through the
State Library of Victoria
State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose-Soley, Agnes
1847 births
1938 deaths
Australian women poets