AustLit

An early twentieth-century Queensland journalist and newspaper editor, George Barrymore was born into a Quaker family and left school at an early age to work as a surveyor of the Mary and Burnett Rivers. Moving north to Charters Towers, he worked as a draughtsman before joining the clerical staff of The Northern Miner. Soon, Barrymore was writing columns under the writing name, 'Cestus,' specialising in sporting topics like boxing, horse racing, and horse breeding. Barrymore served as editor of The Northern Miner from 1910-1919, before transferring to Townsville where he continued to publish as 'Cestus' in The Townsville Daily Bulletin and The North Queensland Register. In 1929 he married fellow-journalist, Freda Barrymore.