John Oxenham - Pearl of Pearl Island

John Oxenham was the pseudonym used by William Arthur Dunkerley for most of his fiction works including poetry. For journalism he went by the name of Julian Ross. Dunkerley was born on November 12th 1852 in Manchester. He attended Old Trafford School and Victoria University, both in Manchester. He married in America and lived they for a short time before returning to these shores, this time to Ealing in West London becoming both the Deacon and teacher at Ealing Congregational Church in the 1880's. In 1913 he wrote a bestselling book of poems entitled 'Bees In Amber' followed by 'All's Well" in 1916. As a journalist he was a major contributor to Jerome K Jerome's Idler magazine. In 1922 he moved to Worthing in Sussex and became the town's Mayor. He died in Worthing on January 23rd, 1941.