by
V. A. Edgeloe
Sir
Archibald Thomas Strong (1876-1930), scholar, teacher and man of letters, was
born on 30 December 1876 at South Yarra, Melbourne, son of Herbert Augustus
Strong, professor of classics in the University of Melbourne, and his wife
Helen Campbell, née Edmiston. The family moved to Liverpool, England, in 1883
when Herbert was appointed professor of Latin at University College.
From
Sedbergh School, Archibald went in 1893 to read classics at University College,
Liverpool, graduating B.A. in 1896; then as a classical exhibitioner he
proceeded to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated in literae humaniores
in 1900. As an undergraduate at Liverpool he was active in sport, a member of
the Students' Representative Council and an editor of the Sphinx. In vacations
he acquired an extensive knowledge of the literatures and a competence in the
languages of France and Germany; he was later to add Italian to his store.
In
1901 ill health compelled him to abandon reading for the Bar under F. E. Smith
(Lord Birkenhead); in search of a more congenial climate, Strong returned to
Melbourne. There he became influential in educational, literary and dramatic
communities: teaching and examining at secondary level, giving extension
lectures for the university, and serving as president of the Melbourne
Literature (1910), Melbourne Shakespeare (1913) and Mermaid societies. He was chief
Commonwealth censor of 'cinematograph films' (1919-22), an advocate of a
national theatre, and with Gregan McMahon a founding member and trustee of the
Melbourne Repertory Theatre. He was, as well, the editor of a relatively
short-lived literary journal, the Trident, and for fifteen years literary
critic for the Melbourne Herald.
Rejected
on medical grounds from active service in World War I, Strong gave unstinted
civilian service in support of the allied cause. He spoke regularly at
recruiting rallies, drafted material to raise war loans and to campaign for
compulsory service, wrote numerous press articles and constantly emphasized
Imperial ties. He also served on the executive of the Commonwealth Directorate
of Education Propaganda on War and Peace Issues. Nettie Palmer regarded his
occasional denigration of some contemporary German men of letters as
unrepresentative of the general Australian literary community. During the war
Strong published Australia and the War (1915) and Story of the Anzacs (1917).
From
1912 to 1921 he taught at the university, being acting professor and head of
the department of English in 1916-19 while (Sir) Robert Wallace was absent on
war service. Yet it was as the first Jury professor of English language and
literature (1922-30) in the University of Adelaide that Strong made his
original and lasting contribution to academic education in his special field by
introducing in 1923 a four-year course for an honours degree. Thickset,
bull-necked, but with refined features, he had commanding presence as a
lecturer and displayed extensive and profound scholarship, especially of the
Elizabethan and Romantic periods. His publications included small volumes of
original verse in traditional form and style in 1905, 1916 and 1918; volumes of
literary criticism in 1910, 1911, 1921 and (posthumously) 1932; translations
into modern English verse of the ballads of Theodore de Banville in 1913 and of
Beowulf in 1925; and, with Wallace, a short history of English literature
(1921) and an anthology of English verse and prose (1923).
Strong's
international standing was attested by his articles on Australia for the
Liverpool Daily Post in 1903, on literature for the Australian Encyclopaedia in
1925 and on Australian poetry for The Times in 1927; he also published his
address to the International Conference on Education at Vancouver, Canada, in
1929, an article on cultural development in Australia in the Cambridge History
of the British Empire and eleven sonnets in the second edition of the Oxford
Book of Australasian Verse. Recognition of his academic stature was accorded by
the award in 1920 of a Litt.D. by the University of Melbourne, and of his
extensive contributions to the literary and dramatic arts by a knighthood in
1925. He was described as Australia's 'most highly cultured' and 'most
widely-read' man.
Strong
never married. He died in Adelaide on 2 September 1930 of cerebral thrombosis
and was buried in the North Road cemetery. The library of the University of
Adelaide acquired his valuable collection of more than 5000 books.
Select
Bibliography
All About Books, Oct 1930
Australian Quarterly, Dec 1930
Observer (Adelaide), 25 Mar 1922, 6 June 1925
Chronicle (Adelaide), 4, 11 Sept 1930
Argus (Melbourne), 3 Sept 1930
records of University of Adelaide and University of
Liverpool and Magdalen College, Oxford
Directorate of War Propaganda file (National Library of
Australia)
newsclippings (University of Adelaide Archives).
Sources:
Pages:
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