26-year-old John Galsworthy came to Australia in 1893. His father had sent him travelling, hoping he’d forget a particular young lady, which he subsequently did. But he made a good friend while he was here.
John Galsworthy was an English novelist and playwright, best known for his literary series The Forsyte Saga and his social values.
Born on 14 August 1867, Galsworthy was the second child and first son of John Galsworthy and Blanche Bartleet Galsworthy. His father was a successful lawyer, company director, and property owner. The family lived in a huge home on a large estate called Coombe, which would become a model for Galsworthy’s novels’ settings.
Galsworthy was educated at Harrow and studied law at Oxford. He travelled widely and at the age of 28 began to write for his own amusement. He was admitted to the bar in 1890, but 8 years later left law to focus on writing. His first four books were published at his own expense under the pseudonym John Sinjohn. Galsworthy’s favourite authors were Thackeray, Dickens, and Melville.
With the death of his father in 1904, Galsworthy became financially independent and married in 1905. Ada, his wife, inspired many of his female characters. Her previous unhappy marriage with Galsworthy’s cousin formed the basis for the novel The Man of Property (1906), which began The Forsyte Saga series and established Galsworthy’s reputation as a major British writer.
Through his writings, Galsworthy campaigned for a variety of causes, including prison reform and women’s rights. He opposed hunting and the slaughter of animals and fought for animal rights. During the First World War he worked in a hospital in France as an orderly, after being passed over for military service.
In 1917 Galsworthy turned down a knighthood, and in 1921 was elected as the first president of the PEN International literary club and was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1929. He was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize for Literature but was too ill to attend the presentation ceremony on 10 December 1932 and died seven weeks later. He donated the prize money from the Nobel Prize to PEN International.