According to his obituary in the Adelaide Observer, Henry Congreve was born in London and claimed to be connected to the playwright William Congreve. (William Congreve never married, although he was rumoured to have an illegitimate daughter, and the specific connection is not made clear in the obituary.)
After being articled to a London doctor at age fifteen, a position he held for five years, he emigrated to South Australia in 1849. He spent some time as a bushworker and gold miner, before starting a connection with the Inglewood Advertiser; Inglewood was some thirty miles outside Bendigo and close to active gold claims. The Inglewood Advertiser was discontinued some two years later, and Congreve returned to Adelaide, where he became editor of the Gawler Standard and later of the Bunyip, in which he published his own serialised novels and short stories. He also wrote for the Adelaide Observer and other Adelaide papers.
Congreve was married and was survived by his widow, one daughter, and five sons.
Source: 'A Remarkable Career: Death of Mr. H.J. Congreve', Observer, 20 July 1918, p.18.
