A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Adams, Francis, W.L.

by John William Cousin

Adams, Francis, W.L (1862–1893).—Novelist, was b. at Malta, and ed. at schools at Shrewsbury and in Paris. In 1882 he went to Australia, and was on the staff of The Sydney Bulletin. In 1884 he publ. his autobiographical novel, Leicester, and in 1888, Songs of the Army of the Night, which created a sensation in Sydney. His remaining important work is Tiberius (1894), a striking drama in which a new view of the character of the Emperor is presented. He d. by his own hand at Alexandria in a fit of depression caused by hopeless illness.