Arthur St John Adcock (17 January 1864 in London – 9 June 1930 in Richmond) was an English novelist and poet, known as A. St John Adcock or St John Adcock. He is remembered for his discovery of the then-unknown poet
W. H. Davies. His daughters,
Marion St John Webb and
Almey St John Adcock, were also writers.
Biography
Arthur St John Adcock was born on 17 January 1864 in London. He was a
Fleet Street journalist for half a century, as an assiduous freelance writer.[1] He worked initially as a law office clerk, becoming a full-time writer in 1893. Adcock built up a literary career by unrelenting efforts in circulating his manuscripts, initially also working part-time as an assistant editor on a trade journal.[2][3]
Adcock married Marion Taylor in 1887, and they settled in Hampstead.[7] Their daughters Marion St John Webb (1888-1930)[8] and Almey St John Adcock (1894–1986),[9] became writers.
He died on 9 June 1930 in Richmond. Adcock's papers are held by the
Bodleian Library.[10]
Robert Louis Stevenson: His Work and His Personality (1924) editor
The Bookman Treasury of Living Poets [1925) editor, and later editions
A Book of Bohemians (1925)
The Prince of Wales' African Book (1926)
City Songs (1926) editor, poetry anthology
Wonderful London (1926/7) editor, three volumes; a shorter version (1935) was reissued in one volume, with preface by Almey St John Adcock, his daughter.[14]
The Glory that was Grub Street – Impressions of Contemporary Authors (1928)
Collected Poems of St. John Adcock (Hodder and Stoughton, 1929)
London Memories (1931)
Hyde Park
Adcock was the last editor of The Odd Volume (1917), an annual that folded during World War I.[15]
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abSandra Kemp; Charlotte Mitchell; David Trotter (2002). The Oxford Companion to Edwardian Fiction. Oxford University Press. p. 2.
ISBN978-0-19-860534-8.