Born in India to a British Major and a Scottish aristocrat, Henry Champion was educated in England from the age of four, spending very little time with his parents. Champion graduated from the Royal Military Academy and served in the Afghan war, but he resigned in 1882 after exposure to the conditions of the poorer classes and extensive reading of socialist literature.
Champion became heavily involved in socialist issues and founded the monthly To-day, publishing the work of writers such as Ibsen and Bernard Shaw. A strong and eloquent speaker, Champion was charged with seditious conspiracy after he caused a near riot in Trafalgar Square, but successfully defended himself in court.
Moving to Melbourne in 1890 because of a recurrent illness, Champion continued to promote the socialist cause. However, his upperclass background and his criticism of the unions hindered his progress and he returned to England. Here he acted as editor of the Nineteenth Century and attempted to win office. But the Independent Labour Party (of which he was a founding member) turned against him and he returned to Melbourne in 1894 determined to take the lead in Australia's socialist movement.
In June 1895 Champion established the weekly Champion as an organ for socialist propaganda. When this ceased operation in May 1897 he ran a weekly society paper until 1899 and wrote for several papers, particularly the Age.
In December 1898 Champion married Elsie Belle Goldstein, manager of the Book Lovers' Library since 1896. Champion continued his editorial work by establishing the the monthly Book Lover in 1899. The Book Lover printed articles on Australian literature and reviews of new works by authors such as A. B. Paterson, Victor Daley and Henry Lawson. In addition, it published news about the activities of clubs and societies such as the Melbourne Repertory Society and the Melbourne Literary Club.
Champion continued to work for the socialist cause, editing and writing for the Socialist. He was subsequently a prominent member of the Victorian Socialist Party, particularly between 1906 and 1909. After leaving the party in 1909 because of illness and conflict with other members, Champion continued working with the Australasian Authors' Agency which he had established in 1906, representing writers such as Dorothea Mackellar, Martin Boyd and Marjorie Barnard, and publishing a number of books by Australian authors. The Book Lover ceased operation in August of 1921, and Champion was declared bankrupt in 1922. He died in 1928, having produced little in his final years.
