John Henry Macartney Abbott (26 December,1874 – 12 August,1953) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

novelist and poet who was born in Haydonton,

Murrurundi Murrurundi ( ) is a rural town located in the Upper Hunter Shire, in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Murrurundi is situated northwest by road from Newcastle and north from Sydney. At the the town had a population of 8 ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in 1874.

Early life

Abbott was the eldest son of son of (Sir)

Joseph Palmer Abbott Sir Joseph Palmer Abbott, (29 September 184215 September 1901) was an Australian politician, pastoralist and solicitor. Early life Joseph Palmer Abbott was born on 29 September 1842 at Muswellbrook, New South Wales, to John Kingsmill Abbot ...

and his first wife Matilda Elizabeth, née Macartney. He was educated at

The King's School, Parramatta The King's School is an Education in Australia#Non-government schools, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, Pre-school education, early learning, primary school, primary and secondary school, secondary day and boarding school, bo ...

and then attended classes at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

before returning to the family property to work as a jackaroo. He published his first verse in ''The Bulletin'' in 1897. In January 1900 he left Australia for the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

where he served as a corporal in the

1st Australian Horse The 1st Australian Horse was a mounted infantry regiment of the Colony of New South Wales that was formed in 1897. The 1st Australian Horse wore distinctive myrtle green uniforms with black embroidery. History Formation The regiment was raise ...

, and later as a second lieutenant in the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It was created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the ...

, but was invalided back to Australia in October 1900. He utilised his experiences in the war to write ''Tommy Cornstalk'' (1902), the success of which convinced him to move to London to work as a journalist. He returned to Australia in 1909 and worked for the next 40 years as a writer of novels, poetry and prose pieces for various newspapers and periodicals. According to Miller and Macartney, Abbott died in the Rydalmere Mental Hospital of

vascular disease Vascular disease is a class of diseases of the vessels of the circulatory system in the human body, body, including blood vessels – the arteries and veins, and the lymphatic vessels. Vascular disease is a subgroup of cardiovascular disease. Diso ...

on 12 August 1953.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Plain and Veldt : being studies, stories and sketches of my own people, in peace and at war'' (1903) * ''Letters from Queer Street: being some of the correspondence of the late Mr John Mason'' (1908) * ''The Sign of the Serpent'' (1910) * ''Castle Vane : A Romance of Bushranging on the Upper Hunter in the Olden Days'' (1916) * ''Sally : The Tale of a Currency Lass'' (1918) * ''The Governor's Man'' (1919) * ''Sydney Cove : A Romance of the First Fleet'' (1920) * ''Ensign Calder'' (1922) * ''Red O'Shaughnessy'' (1935)

Essays

* ''Out of the Past'' (1944)

Short stories

* ''The King's School and Other Tales for Old Boys'' (1931)

Children's fiction

* * ''Dogsnose'' (1928)

Autobiography

* ''Tommy Cornstalk : Being Some Account of the Less Notable Features of the South African War from the Point of View of the Australian Ranks'' (1902)

References

1874 births 1953 deaths Australian male novelists Australian poets Royal Field Artillery officers People educated at The King's School, Parramatta {{Australia-writer-stub