George Lewis Becke

George Lewis Becke, occasionally George Louis Becke ( born June 18, 1855 in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, † February 18, 1913 in Sydney) was an Australian writer with English roots.

Life

Becke was the youngest son ( of six children ) of employees Frederick Becke and his wife Caroline Mathilde Beilby. His parents were English, who were both emigrated with their families to Australia. 1867 could be the family Becke in Hunters Hill, a suburb of Sydney, down, and George Lewis completed his schooling at the Fort Street High School.

With 14 years left Becke 1869, the school and went with his brother Vernon to San Francisco and stayed there for almost two years. In 1871, he snuck onto a ship and came to Samoa as a stowaway. In Apia, he worked until the beginning of 1873 as a bookkeeper in the operation of the McFarlane family and learned through this work he also all kinds of people know.

At the turn of 1873/74 sailed Becke the ketch " E. A. Williams " to Mili ( Ratak chain) and they sold there in mid-January to William Hayes, a shady American master, the slave trade (→ Blackbirding ) was assumed. The " Leonora ", wanted to go back to the Becke as a passenger, was destroyed on March 15, 1874 during a storm in the port of Lelu ( Kosrae ) and the passengers were only in October of the same year of the " HMS Rosario " ( Royal Navy ) saved be.

Back in Brisbane Becke was accused because of his business relationship with Hayes piracy accused, but acquitted after a lengthy trial. Then he was infected in Queensland from the Gold Rush to the Palmer River and worked for some time in the local trading post. Between 1878 and 1879, he earned his living as a bank employee in Townsville.

From April 1880 represented Becke in Nanumaga ( Ellice Islands ), the English company John S. de Wolf & Co. had been as of the year 1880/81 the place destroyed by a hurricane, to Becke was in Nukufetau down and opened there in a February 1881 own business. There he also married Nelea Tikena. By shipwreck in Beru ( Gilbert Islands) in the autumn of the same year he lost his entire fortune

Becke went to New Britain ( Bismarck Archipelago ), where he worked again as an employee of a trading post. In November 1882 he moved to Majuro (Marshall Islands), where he was now employed as a merchant with Hernsheim & Co. In the fall of 1885 he returned to his hometown where he married on February 10, 1886 Elizabeth Maunsell. With her he had a daughter, Nora (* 1888).

In January 1892 Becke moved to Sydney with his wife. He met the publisher of the weekly magazine The Bulletin, JF Archibald, know and settled in the same year of this and another friend, the explorer Ernest Favenc persuaded to publish his experiences at regular sketches and stories. His successful debut as an author could Becke celebrate on May 6, 1893 Tis his story in the Blood.

Early 1896 Becke separated from his wife and traveled to London; He returned in the summer of 1909 to Sydney. With his company, Fanny Sabina Long (1871-1959), he lived first in London and later in Eastbourne. With Long he had two daughters. During this time Becke also drove to and through France and remained a long time in Normandy on.

After his return to Australia, Becke let down again in Sydney and worked as a freelance writer. At the age of 57 years George Lewis Becke died on February 18, 1913 his cancer and found his last resting place in the Waverley Cemetery of Bronte ( Sydney ).

Reception

With its debut on May 6, 1893 Becke was relatively late to write. In his first short stories, there are still weaknesses of autobiographical narratives, which, however, were already overcome soon. The contemporary literary criticism set him in the near Joseph Conrad and Robert Louis Stevenson. Some of his short stories and short stories written Becke with Walter J. Jeffrey ( 1861-1922 ).

Works (selection)

Sole authorship

  • Nicholas Thomas (eds.): Bad colonists. The South Sea Letters of Vernon Lee Walker and Louis Becke. University Press, Durham 1999, ISBN 0-8223-2257-9.
  • Pacific Valley. Fisher Unwin, London, 1925 ( EA London 1897)
  • Wild life in Southern Sea. 2nd Ed Fisher Unwin, London 1897
  • South Seas. Stories from Oceania. Publisher The Brigantine, Hamburg 1969.
  • Yorke, the adventurer and other stories. Fisher Unwin, London, 1901.
  • Under tropic skies. Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, 1970, ISBN 0-8369-3379-6 ( Nachdr d ed London 1905).
  • Chinkie 's flat and other stories. Fisher Unwin, London, 1904.
  • Breachley. Black sheep. Fisher Uniwin, London 1902.
  • Rodman, the boat - steerer and other stories. Books for Libraries, Freeport, 1970, ISBN 0-8369-3573- X ( Nachdr d ed London 1924).
  • Ridan, the devil and other stories. Fisher Unwin, London, 1899.
  • Helen Adair. Fisher Unwin, London 1924 ( Nachdr d ed London 1901).
  • The strange adventure of James Shervinton and other stories. Fisher Unwin, London 1902.

Together with Walter J. Jeffrey

  • The Tapu of Banderah and other stories. Pearson Books, London, 1901.
  • The mutineer. A romance of Pitcairn Iceland. Fisher Unwin, London, 1898.
  • A first fleet family. A hitherto unpublished narrative of Certain remarkable adventures compiled from the papers of Sergeant William Dew of the Marines. MacMillan, New York 1896.
  • Admiral Phillip. The founding of New South Wales. Fisher Unwin, London, 1899.
  • The mystery of the Laughlin Isles. Fisher Unwin, London, 1896.
  • The naval pioneers of Australia. John Murray Books, London, 1899.
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