John Simon Rodker

Sosa: 18 Jack, Jimmy born Simon Solomon

Born in 1894 - Cheetham Rd., Manchester, UK Died in 1955 , age at death: 61 years old

Parents

• David Rodker 1872-1945
• Leah Jacobson 1862-

Spouses and children

• Relationship to Sonia Cohen 1892-1987, with
  • Joan Michelle Rodker 1915-2010
• Married in 1918 to Mary Franeis Butts 1890-1937, divorced in 1927, with
  • Camilla Elizabeth Rodker 1920-2007
• Married in 1936 to Barbara Stanger McKenzie-Smith 1902-1996, divorced, with
  • John Paul Morrison 1937
• Married to Marianne Rais †1984

Ancestors Samuel Rodker †1881   Simma Grunlen †1922     |   |     |   David Rodker 1872-1945   Leah Jacobson 1862- |   | | John Simon Rodker 1894-1955

Siblings John Simon Rodker 1894-1955 Peter Rodker 1897-

Notes

PROFESSION: Publisher, translator, writer, poet

BIOGRAPHY: Was conscientious objector of The First World War. (Was in prison 1917)
Doc. 8
John's birth certificate shows "Simon, son of David Solomon and Leah (Jacobson) Solomon"
1911 census shows him as "Jacob"
Wrote column for French publication for years
Received Légion d'Honneur from French Government.
Famous photo of John with James Joyce, Sylvia and Cyprian Beach at "Shakespeare and Co." in Paris, 1921

SUMMARY (A. Crozier): John Rodker (1894-1955), born in Manchester, moved with his family (his father was a corset-maker) to London when he was six. Educated at Board School and, to the age of 14, at the Jews Free School, he later took evening classes in French, German and science and became a clerk. He avoided military service in the war and in 1919 succeeded Pound as London editor of The Little Review. He set up the Ovid Press, publishing Eliot's Ara Vos Prec, Pound's Mauberley, his own Hymns, and collections of drawing by Lewis, Gaudier-Brzeska and others. He remained a publisher, bringing out Pound's Cantos 17-26, Le Corbusier, Valery, and the German-language edition of Freud's works. He was a translator from the French.