James K.(Keir) Baxter was one of NZ's best known and best loved poets. In his short life he produced a huge number of poems, as well as plays, literary criticism and social and religious commentary. A hugely influential figure, James was as well known for his life as for his writing. He had devoted the last years of his life to social work among alcoholics and drug addicts
He was born in Dunedin in 28 June 1926, the younger son of the well-known conscientious objector Archibald Baxter & Millicent Brown.
He was named after James Keir Hardie, a founder of the British Labour Party. His father had been a conscientious objector during the First World War. His mother had studied Latin, French and German at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney, the University of Sydney and Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
He took an interest in poetry from an early age, writing his first poem at seven and composing three or four a week by the time he was in his teens. His first collection of poems was published in 1944 when he was only 18 and a new collection was published every few years thereafter. He was soon regarded as the pre-eminent poet of his generation.
James spent several years grappling with university study and then working on farms in Canterbury, before settling in Wellington with his young family in 1948. He struggled with alcoholism, but the poems continued to flow. Christian theology was an important influence in his life, and he was baptised as an Anglican in 1948 and then as a Catholic in 1957.
After visiting India in 1959 he returned to New Zealand with a critical eye for poverty and social inequality. Poems such as ‘A Rope for Harry Fat’ and ‘A Bucketful of Blood for a Dollar’ expressed Baxter's despair about a society which prioritised financial gain over spiritual values, and his growing dislocation from ‘the long Jehovah faces / Above their Sunday suits’ who ran the country. He developed an interest in Maori culture, seeing Maori as marginalised and persecuted by mainstream society.
I am related to and in touch with some of the living family, but I'm not sure where Henry BAXTER fits BLB. Did you look at the pages Ngairedith suggested. Happy to help if you can come up with some more info.
Not sure BLB.
If you include a few more details someone may be able to help you find out.
And welcome to familytreecircle.
James K.(Keir) Baxter was one of NZ's best known and best loved poets.
In his short life he produced a huge number of poems, as well as plays, literary criticism and social and religious commentary. A hugely influential figure, James was as well known for his life as for his writing. He had devoted the last years of his life to social work among alcoholics and drug addicts
He was born in Dunedin in 28 June 1926, the younger son of the well-known conscientious objector Archibald Baxter & Millicent Brown.
He was named after James Keir Hardie, a founder of the British Labour Party. His father had been a conscientious objector during the First World War. His mother had studied Latin, French and German at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney, the University of Sydney and Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
He took an interest in poetry from an early age, writing his first poem at seven and composing three or four a week by the time he was in his teens. His first collection of poems was published in 1944 when he was only 18 and a new collection was published every few years thereafter. He was soon regarded as the pre-eminent poet of his generation.
James spent several years grappling with university study and then working on farms in Canterbury, before settling in Wellington with his young family in 1948. He struggled with alcoholism, but the poems continued to flow. Christian theology was an important influence in his life, and he was baptised as an Anglican in 1948 and then as a Catholic in 1957.
After visiting India in 1959 he returned to New Zealand with a critical eye for poverty and social inequality. Poems such as ‘A Rope for Harry Fat’ and ‘A Bucketful of Blood for a Dollar’ expressed Baxter's despair about a society which prioritised financial gain over spiritual values, and his growing dislocation from ‘the long Jehovah faces / Above their Sunday suits’ who ran the country. He developed an interest in Maori culture, seeing Maori as marginalised and persecuted by mainstream society.
you can check some of His Family Tree
If you tell us which line you are a descendant of BLB, who your grandparents were etc, someone may be able to tell you
Henry Baxter 1850-1923 was my great grandfather
I am related to and in touch with some of the living family, but I'm not sure where Henry BAXTER fits BLB. Did you look at the pages Ngairedith suggested. Happy to help if you can come up with some more info.