Henry Lingham was a poet, actor and musician, as well as a private tutor of the classics, according to the biographical roll in 'Twixt Heather and Wattle: The First Minute Book of the Australian Literature Society, 1899-1903 (1990 edition edited by Susan Radvansky and Patricia Alsop). Under his name on the title page of The Last Hours of a Lion Heart : A Threnody (1899), he designated himself as Professor of Rhetoric and Classical Philology. He was a foundation committee member of the Australian Literature Society in Melbourne.