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Edward John Bolus

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Edward John Bolus (born 5 May 1879) was a poet and writer, civil servant, and clergyman. He spent his civil service career in India, which appears prominently in his writing.

Life

Born May 5, 1879 to Harriet S. Bolus and her husband Edward, a schoolmaster in Stoke Newington in London,[1] John studied at the Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood,[2] before matriculating for a BA in Classics at The Queen's College, Oxford, in 1898.[3]

In 1902 he took the civil service examination, and on 14 November 1903 arrived in India, where he served in Bombay and in due course Pune as 'ass[istan]t coll[ecto]r and mag[istrate]'.[2] By 1905 he was a second assistant in Land Revenue and General Administration,[4] and by 1 October 1915 an 'Assistant Collector', based in Pune.[5] He was mobilised in 1914, and his highest acting rank was Capt. 26th (Sind) Bn. of the Indian Defence Force.[3]

While in India, Bolus sustained his Classical interests and was an active member of the (apparently short-lived) Bombay Branch of the Classical Association, 'which owed its existence mainly to the enthusiasm of a learned Jesuit, Father Ailinger'.[6] On 6 April 1911 he gave a lecture to the Branch on 'Plato as a Literary Artist'.[7] It was no doubt his activities here that gave rise to his 1920 publication Bombaia, a long description of Bombay in Latin verse.[8]

Around 1926 Bolus left the Civil Service and in that year was ordained a priest in the Church of England.[9] By 1930 he was priest to Pamber and Monk Sherborne (which were in the gift of The Queen's College and were merged in that year).[10] He remained the resident curate at Pamber Heath into the 1940s.[11]

Publications

  • Edward John Bolus, Poems (Bombay: [n. pub.], 1913)[12]
  • E. J. Bolus, A Sehwan Reverie (Sehwan: Civil and Military Gazette Press, 1918)
  • Eduardus Ioannes Bolus, Bombaia (Bombay: Pearson, 1920)
  • John Bolus, Shires and Spires (London: Richards, 1921), https://archive.org/details/shiresspires00bolu. According to the review in The Spectator, 'Mr. Bolus has considerable metrical power and does not lack a sense of humour'.[13]
  • E. J. Bolus, The Influence of Islam (London: Williams, Temple Bar Pub. Co. Ltd, 1932). Characterised by Arthur Stanley Tritton with the comment 'this book will only annoy a Muslim and is not accurate enough for a Christian'.[14]

References

  1. ^ William Baker, Merchant Taylors' School Register, 1871–1900 (London: Clay, 1907), p. 368 https://archive.org/details/merchanttaylors00schogoog.
  2. ^ a b The India List and Office List (London: India Office, 1905), p. 444.
  3. ^ a b John Richard Magrath, The Queen's College, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon, 1921), II, 357, 376, https://archive.org/details/queenscollege02magr.
  4. ^ The India List and Office List (London: India Office, 1905), p. 95.
  5. ^ Oral Evidence of Witnesses Examined by the Committee Appointed by the Government of Bombay to Consider and Report on the Question of the Extension of the Principles of Local Self-Government in Regard to Local Boards: Volume II. Bombay Presidency (Bombay: British India Press, 1916), p. 95. dspace.gipe.ac.in/jspui/bitstream/10973/3700/3/GIPE-059446.pdf.
  6. ^ Samuel Townsend Sheppard, Bombay (Bombay: Times of India Press, 1932), p. 158.
  7. ^ Classical Association Proceedings, 9 (January 1912), pp. 134, 200.
  8. ^ Samuel Townsend Sheppard, Bombay (Bombay: Times of India Press, 1932), p. 158.
  9. ^ Lewis Sydney Steward O'Malley, The Indian Civil Service, 1601–1930 (London: Murray, 1931), p. 284.
  10. ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory (1930), p. 125 [s.v. Bolus, Edward John], https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YMgWAQAAIAAJ&dq; Hants & Berks Gazette, 18 October 1930, http://www.pamberheatharchives.org.uk/events3.htm.
  11. ^ "Events (1930-1969)". pamberheatharchives.org.uk. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  12. ^ Merchant Taylors' School, Merchant Taylors' School (London, England); Merchant's Taylors' Company, 1923, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_4tBAAAAYAAJ&q.
  13. ^ Anon., 'Poems Worthy of Consideration', The Spectator, 24 December 1921, p. 25, http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/24th-december-1921/25/poems-worthy-of-considerationa-second-book-of-poem.
  14. ^ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 65 (1933), pp. 130-131, doi:10.1017/S0035869X00072531.
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