LANG, JOHN (18171864)

was born at Parramatta, probably in 1817. He was educated at Sydney College, and is mentioned in the chapter "My School Days" in Rolf Boldrewood'sIn Bad Company and Other Stories. Lang could hardly, however, have been at the school withT. A. Browne ("Rolf Boldrewood")(q.v.), as Browne was not born until 1826. Lang went to Cambridge in 1838 and after qualifying as a barrister returned to Australia. In 1842 at a public meeting he seconded a motion proposed byW. C. Wentworth(q.v.), that the Crown be petitioned to grant the colony a representative assembly.A few months later he went to India and was successful as a barrister. He became a journalist and in 1845 established a paper, theMofussilite, at Meerut. He also wrote some novels which appeared serially in theMofussiliteand inFraser's Magazine. These began to be published in book form in 1853,The WetherbysandToo Clever by Halfappearing in that year, followed byToo Much Alike(1854),The Forger's Wife(1855),Captain Macdonald(1856),Will he Marry Her(1858),The Ex-Wife(1858),My Friend's Wife(1859),The Secret Police(1859), andBotany Bay; or True Stories of the Early Days of Australia(1859). Some of these were very popular and were often reprinted, the twelfth edition ofToo Clever by Halfappearing in 1878.Botany Bayhas been reprinted several times, sometimes under the titles ofClever Criminals, orRemarkable Convicts.Fisher's Ghostreprints 10 of the 13 stories ofBotany Bay. Lang also publishedGeraldine, A Balladin 1854, and in 1859Wanderings in India and other Sketchesreprinted fromHousehold Words. He visited London in 1859, and was for a short time at Calcutta where he issued theOptimist. He died at Mussoorie, India, on 20 August 1864.