It was largely through his brother-in-law, James Leigh Joynes (29 May 1853–13 Jan 1893), that Henry Salt began to meet the more active social reformers of the day. Like Salt, Joynes was a vegetarian and a Shelleyan.
In 1882, while a Master at Eton College, he visited Ireland with Henry George. Joynes’ account of his travels, A Political Tour of Ireland, was published in The Times, causing great scandal in Etonian circles. When Eton College, where he was a Master, learnt of his plan to publish his book, The Adventures of a Tourist in Ireland, he was given the choice between remaining as a Master or leaving for his beliefs; he left Eton.
Edward Carpenter, in his autobiography My Days and Dreams, wrote of J. L. Joynes:
“Joynes and his sister [Catherine Leigh Joynes] were singularly unlike externally, yet singularly alike in the depths of their hearts and in their devotion to each other. Both were tall and long-limbed: she dark, raven-haired, with large eyes and sensitive, somewhat sad, Dante-like profile; he red-haired with high complexion, small bluish eyes, heavy features.
“She was intensely emotional, too emotional, but — as such people often are — highly musical; and her literary gift was certainly one of the most remarkable I have known — though unfortunately, except in her letters, rarely utilized.
“He was intensely logical, concentrated, determined — though underneath ran a strong current of poetic feeling — as witness his little book of excellent verses On Lonely Shores (1892).
“Both of them did good work in connection with the Socialist and Labour movement, he more especially by lecturing and writing for the Social Democratic Federation and other such organizations; and she rather more by personal sympathy and helpful friendship towards the rank and file of the workers; both of them were devoted lovers of Nature, and of a natural plain way of life; and their devotion to each other only ended with his too early death in 1893.”
Tributes
James Leigh Joynes: Some Reminiscences by Henry S. Salt, Social Democrat
J. L. Joynes – A Tribute by Harry Quelch, Social Democrat
James Leigh Joynes by Henry Mayers Hyndman, Justice
James L. Joynes Bibliography
This is an incomplete bibliography of J. L. Joynes.
Books
On Lonely Shores and Other Rhymes
Songs of a Revolutionary Epoch
The Adventures of a Tourist in Ireland
Articles and Pamphlets by James Leigh Joynes
Animalcula 📄
Answer to Champion’s Article ‘The Future of Socialism in England’ 📄
Dynamite and Despair 📄
Iblis Presents Himself as Cook 📄
Land Nationalisation 📄
Lochiel’s Warning 📄
Poisoning the Wells 📄
Remedies for Poverty 📄
Socialist Rhymes 📄
State Socialism 📄
The Fallacies Derived from the Bible and from Nature 📄
The New International 📄
The Red International: Review of “Die Rote Internationale” by Sacher 📄
The Roll Call of the Ages 📄
The Socialist Catechism 📄
The Stiff-Neckedness of Certain Carnivora 📄
The Strike in Lancashire 📄
The Triple Alliance: Capitalist, Economist and Priest 📄
Wage Slaves on Strike 📄
Was Thun? A Nihilist’s Novel 📄
Verses by James Leigh Joynes
A City Dinner 📄
A Colloquy 📄
A Curse 📄
Be of Good Cheer 📄
Brotherhood 📄
Dawn 📄
Delusion 📄
Evening Antiphous 📄
Failure 📄
In The Workhouse 📄
Mrs. Grundy’s Mishap 📄
Not Guilty 📄
Press Censorship 📄
Questions 📄
Requiescat 📄
Song of Freedom 📄
Spring 📄
Surplus Value 📄
The Bridal of Hope 📄
The Death of a Tyrant 📄
The Forlorn Hope 📄
The Fortress of Peter and Paul 📄
The Lay of the Ledger 📄
The Lord of Burleigh 📄
The Roll Call of the Ages 📄
The Toiler’s Reward 📄
The Wage Slave of His Wife 📄
Translated
- Cold Comfort, by G. Herweght; translated by J. L. Joynes
Our Corner, VII, 1886, p. 54 - Freiligrath’s Revolution Song, “Berlin,” translated by J. L. Joynes
To-day, November 1885, pp. 437-439 - Love while thou may’st. (poem) by Ferdinand Freiligrath; translated by J. L. Joynes
To-day, December 1885, p. 467 - Wage-Labor and Capital by Marx, Karl; translated by J. L. Joynes
Charles H. Kerr Co, Chicago, ca 1900, 53 pages
Biography
Dictionary of Labour Biography, Vol. VIII, edited by Joyce M. Bellany and John Saville, MacMillian Press Ltd, 1987, pp. 129-134. Short biography including Salt’s tribute.