Australian Writer's Death

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1164, 3 November 1917, Page 10 (Supplement)

Australian Writer's Death

"I can't realise yet that anything so intensely alive and vivacious as Sumner Locke could have died so soon," remarked a friend of the brilliant Australian woman who hoodwinked America into believing that she was a man—and an American man at that! Sumner Locke's (Mrs Elliott) death, which took place in a private hospital (after bearing a son), came as a great shock to her many friends. It has caused widespread regret that a career which had achieved so much should be cut off in the height of her success. The daughter of a Church of England clergyman, she early undertook journalistic work, and later branched out into verse and story. Incidentally she was the first Australian woman to have had a play produced on the professional stage. The play, "Mum Dawson, Boss," is a dramatisation of one of her earlier books. It was completed at Bondi, while staying over a week-end, and was written without a single note, which showed her to be the fortunate possessor of a remarkable memory. Just before her death Sumner Locke was hard at work on a new novel, which had been ordered by the American publishers who accented "Samaritan Mary," the book that made such a hit in the United States. After seeing her husband, Sergeant L. Elliott, A.1.F., as far as America, because the Atlantic was a closed route, Sumner Locke returned to Sydney in August last. v She had many literary friends. Possessed of a wonderful of expression, she had a gift of concentration, and was a great worker. Success did not spoil her—she had far too much humour for that to happen, and she realised hei* two ambitions: to have a son and to'write a play. \ "And I hope the son will be yforth her sacrifice," was the sad rejoinder of an enthusiastic reader of»her books. Jh A