Cirrus@Austlit

Archibald Strong moved to England with his family in 1883 when his father was appointed Professor of Latin at University College, Liverpool. He was educated in England and Germany, returning to Melbourne in 1901. He edited the Trident (q.v.), was for many years literary critic of the Melbourne Herald, and lectured in English at the University of Melbourne (1913-1919). Strong was influential in education, literary and dramatic communities, and gave lectures and served as president of the Melbourne Literature Society (1910), Melbourne Shakespeare Society (1913) and the Mermaid Play Society (Melbourne Repertory Players). He was a founding member of the Melbourne Repertory Theatre. He was rejected on medical grounds from service in World War I, but gave his time generously in support of the allies. During the war he published Australia and the War (1915) and Story of the Anzacs (1917).

Strong was chief Commonwealth censor of 'cinematograph films' (1919-1922), and from 1922-1930 was Jury Professor of English at the University of Adelaide, introducing a four-year course for an Honours degree (1923). In 1920 Melbourne University awarded him the degree of Doctor of Letters and in 1925 he was awarded a knighthood for his extensive contribution to the literary and dramatic arts.

Strong's other publications include Australia and the War (articles originally published in the Melbourne Herald, [1915?]), A Short History of English Literature (1921) and other studies on English literature, and English Verse and Prose: A New Anthology (1923). He contributed the chapter on Australian literature to the 1925 edition of the Australian Encyclopaedia.