Harry John White was born in 1856 at Stepney, London, the son of Thomas (James) White, Warehouseman, and Mary Janet (born Durston), widow of John West, of Deal. His father died in 1862, allowing him a free education at the 'Warehousemen Clerks and Drapers' Schools', also known as Russell, or in later years, Royal Russell School. After a career at sea, he arrived in Adelaide on the Hesperus in May 1874, and deserted when the ship finally sailed in October. He then worked at land clearing before settling in Port Augusta as a ferryman by 1881, when he married Mary Jane McDowell. In 1888 his first book of poetry was published by David Drysdale, owner of the Port Augusta Dispatch, of which White was editor by 1891. By late 1893 he was living and publishing in Adelaide. He became editor of the the labour movement newspaper the Weekly Herald by the second issue in late 1894, but was asked to resign in February 1895, apparently over relationships between the labour movement and the churches. His novel, 'Dave Hargrave's Mission' was serialised in the Weekly Herald during and after his editorship.
An Adelaide syndicate sent him to the West Australian goldfields in 1895-1897. A spell in Melbourne was followed by apppointment as Home Missionary at Golden Grove Presbyterian Church, near Adelaide from Jan 1904 to June 1906, during which time his wife died. After several other country church appointments up to 1911, he finally worked as a 'confidential clerk' for James Marshall & Co. while continuing to publish poetry. He died in Adelaide in 1930.
