Bart Kennedy

Bart Kennedy (1861–1930) was an English novelist, memoirist and journalist.

Biography

Kennedy was born in Leeds of Irish parents.^[1]^[2] From the age of 6 until about the age of 20 he worked in cotton mills and machine shops in Manchester, England.^[2] At age 20 he left England, working as a deckhand on a cargo ship^[2] which landed him in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[2] Illiterate and with no money or formal training, he used the force of his strength (and fist) to "tramp" his way westward across North America.^[2] He worked at various laboring jobs including as an oysterman on a skipjack on the Chesapeake Bay; a miner in New York; building railroad sheds in the Canadian Rockies; and panning for gold in the Klondike.^[2] He eventually ended up in California where he had various jobs in the theater, including as a singer and actor, before returning to England, where in October 1897 he married Isabel Priestley, a political activist.^[3]

Writing career

Illustration by Tom Browne from the article "Stone Fishing" by Bart Kennedy. The caption is "He immediately began to argue vigorously", The Wide World Magazine, volume 9" (May-Oct 1902)

Kennedy published his first novel, Darab's Wine Cup, in 1897, followed by The Wandering Romanoff (1898). A fair amount of autobiography is contained in A Man Adrift (1899), A Sailor Tramp (1902) and A Tramp in Spain (1904), books about his "tramping" exploits around the world.^[1] John Sutherland (1989) says "As an author, he is one of the early advocates of 'tramping', as the source of literary inspiration."^[1]

Kennedy also wrote articles for magazines such as The New Age.^[4]

Published works

Darab's Wine Cup (1897)
The Wandering Romanoff (1898)
A Man Adrift (1899)
A Sailor Tramp (1902)
A Tramp in Spain (1904)
Slavery (1905)
The Green Sphinx (1905)
A Tramp Camp (1906)
The German Danger (1907)
Soldiers of Labour (1917)
Golden Green (1926)

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Sutherland, John (1990) [1989]. "Kennedy, Bart". The Stanford Companion to Victorian Literature. Stanford University Press. p. 349. ISBN 9780804718424.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kennedy, Bart (1900). A Man Adrift: Being Leaves from a Nomad's Portfolio. H.S. Stone.
^ Swanzy, Henry Biddall (1908). The Families of French of Belturbet and Nixon of Fermanagh and Their Descendants. Dublin: A. Thom & Co. p. 56.
^ Castaway. "The Catalonians by Bart Kennedy". S.O.S. Catalonia Calling. Retrieved 19 September 2014.

External links

Works by or about Bart Kennedy at the Internet Archive

[Sutherland-1] Sutherland, John (1990) [1989]. "Kennedy, Bart". The Stanford Companion to Victorian Literature. Stanford University Press. p. 349. ISBN 9780804718424.

[Kennedy-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kennedy, Bart (1900). A Man Adrift: Being Leaves from a Nomad's Portfolio. H.S. Stone.

[3] Swanzy, Henry Biddall (1908). The Families of French of Belturbet and Nixon of Fermanagh and Their Descendants. Dublin: A. Thom & Co. p. 56.

[4] Castaway. "The Catalonians by Bart Kennedy". S.O.S. Catalonia Calling. Retrieved 19 September 2014.

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