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Alec John Dawson (1872 - 3 February 1951), generally known as A. J. Dawson (pseudonyms Major Dawson, Howard Kerr, Nicholas Freydon) was an English author, traveller and novelist. During World War I he attained the rank of Major, and was awarded the MBE and Croix de Guerre in recognition of his work as a military propagandist. Dawson published over thirty books, the one best remembered today probably being the animal adventure story ''Finn the Wolfhound'' (1908). == Early life and career == Dawson was born in Wandsworth, England, the third son of Edward and Sara Dawson.〔''Who Was Who''〕 His father worked as a collector for the local gas company.〔1871, 1881, 1891 UK census〕 He left school early to become an apprentice in the Merchant Navy, but jumped ship in Australia after a couple of voyages. For the next few years he was something of a drifter, working for a spell as a farmer and then joining the staff of a Melbourne newspaper. Some five years later he decided to become an author, travelling for several years around Australasia, India, Ceylon, Mauritius, South America, West Africa, Morocco and Europe.〔Knight,''Bibliophile Dictionary''〕 He used the pen-name Howard Kerr for his first published novel, ''Leeway'' (1896). Further publications as A.J. Dawson soon followed: two collections of short stories (''Mere Sentiment'' and ''In the Bight of Benin'') and two novels (''God's Foundling'' and ''Middle Greyness'') in 1897 alone. Dawson's early fiction draws on his own upbringing and travels: John Sutherland〔Sutherland〕 singles out for praise ''Daniel Whyte'' (1899), about his younger adventures in Australasia; and ''The Story of Ronald Kestrel'' (1900), dealing with his later career as a writer. ''African Nights Entertainments'' (1900), another collection of short stories, suggests a debt to Rudyard Kipling's ''Plain Tales from the Hills''. By 1898 he was back in England, marrying in that year Elizabeth Drummond.〔''Bibliophile Dictionary''〕 Elizabeth (1874-?1921) was the daughter of the Bradford worsted manufacturer John Drummond and his wife Mary.〔Bradford birth and marriage registers, 1881 and 1891 UK censuses〕 No children are known to have been born of this marriage, and the length of its duration is unclear: she is presumably the ‘Mistress of the Kennels’ to whom ''Finn the Wolfhound'' (1908) was dedicated, but no later references to her have been traced, unless she was the Elizabeth Dawson, aged 46, who died in Barnsley in 1921.〔UK Death Registers〕 In 1904 the couple had a house in Sussex and Dawson described himself as a novelist and traveller, dividing his time between Sussex and Morocco.〔 Morocco was the setting for several of his novels (''Bismillah'', 1898; ''Joseph Khassan'', 1901; ''Hidden Manna'', 1902; ''The Fortunes of Farthings'', 1905) while ''Things seen in Morocco'' (1904) combines short stories, travel writing and political analysis. Dawson was also a dog-lover who had become interested in the revival of the Irish Wolfhound breed and served as Honorary Secretary of the Irish Wolfhound Club.〔 His own dog Tynagh and her son Gareth, who was described as the largest and finest specimen of his breed to date, served as the models for Tara and Finn in ''Finn the Wolfhound'' (1908).〔Knight〕 This is probably Dawson’s best-remembered and certainly his most frequently reprinted work: Finn, a champion Irish Wolfhound, is taken from England to Australia where he undergoes a series of adventures, being exhibited as a wild animal in a circus and escaping to live in the outback before eventually finding his old master and saving his life. Dawson also bred Bloodhounds and a sequel, ''Jan'' (1915), features Finn's son by the Bloodhound bitch Desdemona. Jan is taken to Canada where he survives similarly arduous adventures, serving with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mounties) and as a sled dog. After the First World War Dawson would also write ''Peter of Monkslease'' (1924), the story of a Bloodhound, and several dog reference books. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alec John Dawson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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