Henry+Lawson+Matt,+Angus,+Gabriel

=HENRY LAWSON (17 June 1867 - 2 September 1922)= ==

**Early Life:**
Henry Lawson (17 June 1867 - 2 September 1922) was born in a town on the Grenfell goldfields of New South Wales. His father was Niels Herzberg Larsen, a Norwegian-born miner who went to sea at 21, arrived in Melbourne in 1855 to join the gold rush. On Henry's birth, the family surname was anglicised and Niels became Peter Lawson. The newly-married couple were to have an unhappy marriage.

Henry Lawson attended school at Eurunderee from 2 October 1876 but suffered an ear infection at around this time. It left him with partial deafness and by the age of fourteen he had lost his hearing entirely. He later attended a Catholic school at Mudgee, New South Wales. Reading became a major source of his education because, due to his deafness, he had trouble learning in the classroom.

In 1883, after working on building jobs with his father and in the Blue Mountains, Lawson joined his mother in Sydney at her request. It was here that he failed his university exams. By 1896, he married Bertha Bredt Jr. They had two children, Joseph and Bertha. However, the marriage ended unhappily.

** Later Life: **
====In 1903 Henry Lawson bought a room at Mrs Issabella Byers' Coffee Palace in North Sydney. This was the beginning of a 20 year friendship between Mrs Byers and Lawson. At the time he was the most celebrated Australian writer of the time. However, Lawson was depressed and very poor. The latter was due to unfortunate royalty deals with publishers. His ex-wife reported him for non-payment of child maintenance which was what partly sent him to Gaol at Darlinghurst Gaol for drunkenness as well. His poem "One Hundred and Three" - his prison number - which was published in 1908. At this time, Lawson became an alcoholic, and was unable to carry on the usual routine of life.====