Barcroft Boake: A Memoir (section 1): Barcroft Boake’s early years

[Editor: This is section 1 of “Barcroft Boake: A Memoir ”, by A. G. Stephens, published in Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems (1897).]

[Barcroft Boake’s early years]

Most of the material for the following account of Boake’s life has been supplied by his father, Mr. B. C. Boake, whose kindness I gratefully acknowledge. I have also received valuable help from Miss Clarice Boake, a sister of the poet; from Mr. W. A. Lipscomb, surveyor, with whom Boake worked as assistant; from Mr. L. C. Raymond, for some time his associate while with Mr. Lipscomb; from Mr. F. S. Boyd, his old mate; from Mr. Alex. McKeahnie and Miss Jean McKeahnie, of Rosedale Station, N.S.W., Mrs. John McKeachie (née McKeahnie) of Dungalear Station, N.S.W., and Mrs. O’Connor and Miss O’Connor, of Wagga, N.S.W. — among the most prized of Boake’s few friends. Thanks to these and others, I do not think that any important fact in Boake’s life, or trait in his character, has escaped me.

When undertaking to edit this volume, I felt, as Australians must feel, keen literary grief at the early death of an Australian writer so brilliant and promising as Boake. Proceeding with the task, that literary grief became a personal grief. My admiration of the poet did not lessen: it merged in admiration of the man. From a hundred little sources flowed evidence of Boake’s courage, of his generosity, of his unselfish affection, of his simplicity and worth. That listless, shy, moody, dispirited bushman hid under an unprepossessing exterior a heart of gold — his mother’s.

There is a modern theory which holds that the characters of both male and female are contained in every individual of a bisexual species. At some time previous to birth causes still imperfectly understood decide which set of characters is to become overt, which to remain covert. But often it seems as if influences this way and that had been so equally balanced that the preponderating sex is belied by the outward symbols. We speak of ‘masculine women,’ of ‘effeminate men.’ And it is curious to note how in such persons, as life goes on, the sex really dominant frequently develops secondary characteristics in defiance of the sex primarily in possession.

If the idea be grasped that outward sex-form is no infallible indication of the dominant sex, but merely an expression of the resultant of sex-forces at one particular stage of growth, a flood of light is shed on apparent physical and psychical anomalies. We see every individual not as male wholly or female wholly, but as compounded of male and female in proportions indefinitely varying. This person, outwardly male, is essentially three-fourths female; that one, outwardly female, is one-third male; yonder is another in whom male and female meet on equal terms. The combinations are infinite.

Such a theory explains, for example, why ‘George Eliot,’ with all her talent, could rarely write poetry; since the basis of poetry is emotion, the male sphere is essentially intellectual, and George Eliot was markedly male. It explains, for example, why John Keats was so emotionally sensitive; since the female sphere is essentially emotional, and a poet is half woman. To male intensity and originality he must join female receptivity and sympathy; thinking deeply, yet not more deeply than he feels; blending head and heart in happy unison. As the male element is prominent in the literature of actuality, so the female element is prominent in the literature of imagination. It is especially prominent in poetry; for, while the most idealistic fiction builds on a realistic basis, to the poet belongs the pure ideal: he alone can dwell in the rarest ether of phantasy.

Boake inherited from his father a poetical brain; from his mother the sensitive temperament which refined its conceptions to the pitch of genius. His sex gave him the virile heat to concentrate passion in glowing words. Of genius, in the severest and most modern sense, Boake had no small share. There is in his best work that fascination, that moving force which the most cultured talent can never command. By education he was poorly equipped. But his ideas gained in force what they lost in range. It was partly because his mind had not been bemused with word-images that his sense-images were exceptionally vivid. And he moved on an intellectual plane. His knowledge would have increased, his horizon widened, without loss of emotional power. He died at the outset of a career, achieving little of all that his capacity promised. In the potent years from twenty-six to thirty-three, had fortune favoured, Boake might easily have won recognition as the foremost poet of Australia.

Boake’s mother was a native of Adelaide, where she was born on 5th January, 1845. Her maiden name was Florence Eva Clarke. She was the only child of her parents; and at the time of her marriage on 7th March, 1865, she had been living with her mother in Sydney, having come thither from Adelaide on the death of her father several years previously. Her father, Henry Clarke, was by profession an accountant, and in many ways she resembled him. Her mother outlived her, and died on 8th August, 1894.

When Florence Clarke married she was twenty years old. She was then of a middle height, rather slender and delicate in appearance; with clear skin, large blue eyes, and beautiful golden-brown hair, long and silken. Her son Barcroft inherited her noticeable Jewish nose and keenly nervous temperament: in manhood he is described as ‘simply a hard masculine likeness of his mother.’

Barcroft Capel Boake, father of the poet (still living at Daylesford, Victoria), was born at Dublin, Ireland, on 12th November, 1838. His unusual name of Barcroft had been handed down in the family for generations; and came to him from his cousin and godfather, the Rev. Barcroft Boake, D.D., one-time incumbent of Holy Trinity Church, Balaclava, Melbourne. As a lad he gained some experience in photography; and when he emigrated to Australia at the age of twenty he found a profitable living in the business.

The young couple were married at St. John’s Church, Darlinghurst, by the Rev. Edward Rogers. They commenced their life together at Vergemont Cottage, Waterview Bay, Balmain; where their first child, Barcroft Henry Thomas, the subject of this memoir, was born on 26th March, 1866. As a boy he was in no way remarkable. A portrait of him at the age of five shows a smiling, sweet-faced child beside a sweet-faced, smiling mother — the resemblance in feature and expression being then, however, less distinct than it was later.

Shortly after Barcroft’s birth the home was shifted to No. 330, George-street, Sydney, where his father for long had a photographic studio. Here the family lived two years, removing then to a house purchased at Lavender Bay, on the North Shore of Sydney harbour, where ten peaceful years were spent. When ‘Bartie’ was about nine years old, Mr. Allen Hughan, of Nouméa, New Caledonia, paid his father a visit. Mr. Hughan was an intimate friend, and on leaving begged that the boy, to whom he had taken a fancy, might be permitted to go with him to Nouméa for a time. The Boakes consented, with the condition that their son should be taught French; and during an absence of two years he acquired a moderate knowledge of that language.

While the boy was in Nouméa the Boake family removed to North Willoughby, not far from Sailor Bay, one of the arms of Middle Harbour. Here, on 4th November, 1879, Mrs. Boake died of puerperal fever, after giving birth to twin boys — one of whom died in infancy, while the other, an idiot, lived to the age of fourteen. She had in all nine children: two, a boy and a girl, died in their third year; four daughters are now living.

Mrs. Boake’s character is described as combining force and tenderness in a singular and charming degree. She was of cheerful temperament: fond of society, yet preferring the intimacy of home. For a long time after her marriage she continued to study French and music, that she might be able to teach her children. Her death was a keen grief to the family: the irreparable loss altered their whole future. Writing to his friend Mr. Hughan, Barcroft, then thirteen years old, said: ‘Mamma has been taken away, leaving a little baby boy behind — what an exchange!’

His father at this time was prospering in business, and Barcroft grew up a sturdy lad, well cared for. At an early age he could swim and handle a boat. In cricket and football he took less interest; but he was a good tennis-player, and he rode a pony, as well as a bicycle of the old-fashioned pattern. He went to school till he was about seventeen — for a few months at the Sydney Grammar School, and for nearly five years with Mr. Edward Blackmore, in Hunter-street, Sydney. He displayed no unusual ability; and is described as a quiet, reserved boy, yet by no means mopish; fond of reading; noticeably honourable, generous, and constant in his affections. He was particularly attached to his grandmother, Mrs. Clarke, who took charge of the household when her daughter died; and his letters in later years of absence frequently make loving enquiry as to her welfare.

When seventeen years old young Boake was placed in the office of a Sydney land-surveyor, who taught him sufficient draughtsmanship to pass an examination for admission to the Government Survey Department, and borrowed (but never repaid) £100 of a sum of £200 given to Boake by his father. This money was the fruit of an endowment insurance policy; and some time afterwards his father asked the lad to withdraw the money from the bank where it was supposed to lie. Then the latter avowed with tears that he had practically lost £100, and had spent the interest of the remainder on the racecourse. His father, though vexed, made light of the matter; but Barcroft suffered such distress of mind that he eagerly seized an opportunity to leave Sydney. In July, 1886, after about twelve months spent in the Survey Office as temporary draughtsman, he took the place of field-assistant to Mr. E. Commins, a surveyor whose headquarters were at Rocklands farm, near Adaminaby, N.S.W.

Adaminaby is a small township in the elevated Monaro district, where in parts during winter snow sometimes covers the ground for weeks together. Here Boake spent two happy years. He was just turned twenty, and eagerly welcomed the change from city streets. His health was perfect; his surroundings novel and interesting. He lived, for the most part, the free out-door life congenial to him; and at Rosedale Station Mr. and Mrs. Alex. McKeahnie welcomed him to a home circle for whose members he cherished warm and lasting regard.

Source:
Barcroft Boake, Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, Sydney (NSW): Angus and Robertson, 1897, pp. 155-166

Editor’s notes:
Alex. = an abbreviation of the name “Alexander”

B. C. Boake = Barcroft Capel Boake (1838-1921), a photographer; he was born in Dublin (Ireland) in 1838, came to Australia in the 1850s, and died in Mosman (Sydney, NSW) in 1921 (he was the father of the poet Barcroft H. Boake)
See: “Barcroft Capel Boake”, Wikipedia

D.D. = Doctor of Divinity
See: “Doctor of Divinity”, Wikipedia

George Eliot = the literary pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880), an English author, poet, and journalist; she was born in Nuneaton (Warwickshire, England) in 1819, and died in Chelsea (London, England) in 1880
See: “George Eliot”, Wikipedia

John Keats = John Keats (1795-1821), an English poet; he was born in Moorgate (London, England) in 1795, and died in Rome (Papal States; now part of Italy) in 1821
See: “John Keats”, Wikipedia

mate = friend, buddy, chum, pal (commonly refers to the male friend of a male); colleague, comrade, fellow, partner (e.g. classmate, messmate, shipmate)

N.S.W. = an abbreviation of New South Wales (a colony in Australia from 1788, then a state in 1901)

née = (also spelt: nee) used to indicate a birth name or a previous name, especially used regarding the maiden name of a married female, e.g. if Jane Citizen marries John Doe, then a reference to her (such as in a legal or literary context, where the writer might want to include her former name) could be expressed as “Jane Doe, née Citizen” or “Jane Doe (née Citizen)”

Nouméa = the capital city of New Caledonia
See: “Nouméa”, Wikipedia

novel = new; newly created, evolved, formed, or made; of recent origin; original, without precedent

phantasy = an archaic spelling of “fantasy”

puerperal fever = (also known as childbed fever) a fever caused by an infection of the female reproductive system (especially an infection of the uterus) following childbirth or miscarriage
See: “Postpartum infections”, Wikipedia

Rev. = an abbreviation of “Reverend” (a title given to a minister of a church, a priest, a member of the clergy)

St. = (abbreviation) Saint

thither = over there, yonder; to or towards that place or point (regarding somewhere which has already been mentioned); in that direction, further away; (archaic) to that end, point, or result

yonder = at a distance; far away

[Editor: Changed “Mrs O’Connor” to “Mrs. O’Connor” (added a period, in line with the practice used elsewhere in the Memoir).]