Agnes Rose-Soley Explained

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Occupation:	Journalist and poet
Caption:	Rose-Soley in 1923
Agnes Rose-Soley
Pseudonym:	Rose de Boheme
Birth Name:	Agnes Rebecca Rose
Birth Place:	Scotland
Death Place:	Milsons Point, New South Wales, Australia

Agnes Rebecca Rose-Soley (1847 – 19 March 1938) was a Scottish-born Australian journalist and poet. She wrote under the pseudonyms Rose de Boheme and Pistachio^[1] and sometimes with her husband as A. J. Rose-Soley.^[2]

Life

Rose-Soley was born Agnes Rebecca Rose in Scotland in 1847 and grew up in France.^{[3] [4]} She attended Newnham College, Cambridge, but unable to complete her studies due to ill health.^[5]

Rose-Soley was theatre critic for the Illustrated Sydney News under the pseudonym Pistachio in 1889 and 1890.^{[6] [7]}

She was married in 1891 in Balmain to John Fisher Soley, a journalist and naval artillery volunteer who had earlier enlisted and served in the Sudan in 1885.^[8] It was his second marriage: he had divorced his first wife, Alice Helena Soley, for adultery in 1890, naming actor Stilling Duff as co-respondent.^[9]

The couple lived at Monad, a waterfront cottage in Clifton Street, East Balmain, where they entertained "all Bohemian Sydney" at "chic dinners".^{[10] [11]}

In 1893 she composed the lyrics and music for a "Marching Song" for the people who migrated to Paraguay that year to establish a settlement known as New Australia.^[12]

She and her husband went to Samoa, where they lived on Manono Island for two years.^[13] They then moved to San Francisco, where they wrote for newspapers for five years before spending a year in San Diego. After some time in London, they returned to Sydney in 1910.^[5]

Rose-Soley founded in 1914 the Sydney Lyceum Club, of which poet Mary Gilmore was a founder-member.^{[14] [15]} During World War I she wrote patriotic poems, some of which were printed as Stray Chords in 1923.^[16]

Over the years her poems appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sydney Mail, The Daily Telegraph and The Bulletin in Australia, and in London's Speaker and Lyceum Journal, San Francisco's Call and Overland Monthly, and Honolulu's Independent^[17]

Death

Rose-Soley died on 19 March 1938 at Milsons Point, New South Wales,^[18] and was buried at the Northern Suburbs Cemetery.^[4] Her husband died intestate in Young, New South Wales, in March 1944.^[19]

Works

• Manoupa, a novel (Digby, Long & Co., 1897)
• The Call of the Blood and other war verses (Sydney Lyceum Club, 1914)
• Stray Chords, poetry (Tyrrell's Limited, 1923)

External links

• Stray Chords – digitised and available through the State Library of Victoria

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rose-Soley, Agnes . 2021-08-19 . The Dictionary of Sydney.
2. News: 8 May 1925 . New Australia Reminiscences . 33 . 8 . Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record . 19 . South Australia . National Library of Australia . 19 August 2021.
3. Web site: Agnes Rose-Soley . 2021-08-19 . AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . en.
4. News: 22 March 1938 . Obituary. Madame Rose-Soley . 9 . . 31,269 . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 19 August 2021.
5. News: 29 December 1910 . A. R. and J. F. Rose-Soley . 21 . . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 19 August 2021.
6. News: 27 June 1889 . Round About the Theatres . XXVI . 28 . . 7 . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 20 August 2021.
7. News: 3 April 1890 . An Actor Angler . XXVII . 13 . . 7 . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 20 August 2021.
8. News: 20 February 1885 . The Enrolment . 7 . . 14,635 . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 19 August 2021.
9. News: 29 May 1890 . Law Report . 4 . . 16,280 . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 19 August 2021.
10. News: 24 October 1903 . Mainly About People . 6 . 9 . . 58 . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 20 August 2021.
11. Web site: 1894 Part 2 - City Street Directory - Lon-Yur - Suburban Directory - Alexandria to Burwood . 2021-08-19 . City of Sydney Archives . 166.
12. News: 15 April 1893 . The Poetess of Paraguay – The New Australia . XXX . 4 . . 15 . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 19 August 2021.
13. News: 19 February 1897 . Personal . 2 . Table Talk . 608 . Victoria, Australia . National Library of Australia . 19 August 2021.
14. Web site: Sydney Lyceum Club (1914–1982) . 2021-08-19 . The Australian Women's Register . en-gb.
15. de Boheme . Rose . 1925-10-01 . The Sydney Lyceum Club . The Home: An Australian Quarterly . 6 . 5 . 73 . Trove.
16. Book: Rose-Soley, Madame . Stray Chords . Tyrrell's Limited . 1923 . Sydney . 6.
17. Book: Rose-Soley, Madame . Stray Chords . Tyrrell's Limited . 1923 . Sydney . 5.
18. News: 21 March 1938 . Family Notices . 12 . . 31,268 . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 19 August 2021.
19. News: 15 September 1944 . RE the estates of the undermentioned deceased persons.— . 1606 . Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales . 91 . New South Wales, Australia . National Library of Australia . 19 August 2021.