Frederick Johns (22 March 1868 – 3 December 1932) was an American-born Australian

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and biographer. Johns was born in

Houghton, Michigan Houghton (; ) is the largest city and county seat of Houghton County, Michigan, Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, Houghton is the largest city in the Copper Country region. It is the fifth-larges ...

, United States, son of

Cornishman Cornish people or the Cornish (, ) are an ethnic group native to, or associated with Cornwall: and a recognised national minority in the United Kingdom, which (like the Welsh and Bretons) can trace its roots to the ancient Britons who inh ...

Ezekiel JohnsSuzanne Edgar,
Johns, Frederick (Fred) (1868 – 1932)
, ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 9, MUP, 1983, pp 491–492. Retrieved 2009-08-16 of

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, UK. His father Ezekiel died while Fred was still an infant, whereupon he was taken to Cornwall, England. After leaving school, he emigrated to Australia in 1884 at the age of 16. He obtained a position on the ''South Australian Register'' and rose to be a sub-editor. In 1906 he published his '' Johns's Notable Australians'', a volume of biographies of Australians then living. A later edition appeared in 1908; from 1912 to 1914 it appeared as ''Fred Johns's Annual''. In 1922 it was revived as ''Who's Who in the Commonwealth of Australia'', and then in 1927 as ''

Who's Who in Australia The pronoun ''who'', in English language, English, is an English interrogative words, interrogative pronoun and a English relative words, relative pronoun, used primarily to refer to persons. Unmarked, ''who'' is the pronoun's subjective form; ...

''. In 1914 Johns was appointed a member of the State Hansard staff, of which he subsequently became the leader. In 1920 Johns published a small collection of patriotic verses, ''In Remembrance'', which was followed two years later by ''A Journalist's Jottings'', a collection of essays dealing mostly with well-known Australians. Johns also edited the ''South Australian Freemason'' 1920–25. Johns died at Adelaide aged 64. He was survived by a daughter. Under his will the sum of £1500 was left to the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

to found "The Fred Johns Scholarship for Biography". Johns' '' An Australian Biographical Dictionary'' was not quite finished at the time of his death. It was completed by his friend B. S. Roach and published by his daughter in 1934, two years after his death. It contains about 3000 short biographies of eminent Australians. His work is marked by great conscientiousness and care, and as a general rule is remarkably accurate.

Footnotes

References

Johns, Fred, ''Johns's Notable Australians, and Who is Who in Australasia: A Dictionary of Biography Containing Records of the Careers of Men and Women of Distinction in the Commonwealth of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand'', Fred Johns, (Rose Park, Adelaide), 1908
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johns, Fred Australian biographers Australian male biographers American emigrants to Australia Immigrants to Australia American people of Cornish descent Australian people of Cornish descent Writers from South Australia People from Houghton, Michigan 1868 births 1932 deaths Australian Freemasons American male biographers