Who is Lizzie Humphrey? A Henry Lawson puzzle

It's just come to my notice, thanks to my friend in London, that Henry Lawson was in the 1901 UK Census, a fact that as far as I know is unknown to his biographers Denton Prout (aka Clement Semmler, the crook biographer) and Prof. Colin Roderick (the good one). The census is online and was probably never considered by historians before.

See this page in the Louisa Lawson and Henry Lawson Chronology for the details.

Now, I'm no historian, but I think that this might be important Lawsonia. There is more or less a lost year in Henry's life, during which time his wife Bertha was in Bethlem (Bedlam) Mental Hospital. Henry was on the verge of international literary success, then suddenly collapsed as a writer, forever. The biographers wonder why Bertha went crazy, and why Henry dried up at just this time.

As you will see if you follow that link, just after the census, Bertha made unknown but serious allegations against her hubby to Mary Gilmore (who disbelieved them). Also, Lawson's mate Arthur Maquarie wrote to The Bulletin around this time to refute rumours (unnamed) against Henry that were circulating in Oz. You will see from the census that Henry, aged about 33, was sharing accommodation with Lizzie Humphrey (aged about 24) from Harpenden, where the Lawsons were living when Bertha went mad. Who is Lizzie Humphrey?

Tagged: australia, literature, history, australian+literature, australian+history, bush+poetry