Cecil Harry Huddlestone Hay Hadgraft

Cecil Harry Huddlestone Hay Hadgraft (8 June 1904 – 19 February 1987) was an Australian academic and literary critic. He was a senior lecturer and reader in literature at the University of Queensland, with a particular interest in the early years of Australian literature.

Early life and education Hadgraft was born on 8 June 1904 in Moonee Ponds, Victoria. As a child he moved to Rockhampton, Queensland, where he attended Rockhampton Grammar School and was mentored by Henry Kellow. He entered the University of Queensland in 1922 and was editor of the student magazine Galmahra in 1924. He eventually graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1929 and was awarded first-class honours in 1931 with a thesis on "aspects of the mock-heroic in English verse and drama to 1781". He completed a Master of Arts in 1937.

Career Hadgraft worked as a schoolteacher at Rockhampton Grammar School (1925–1930), Wolaroi College (1932–1933) and Ipswich Grammar School (1934–1949). He was also an education officer in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from 1942 to 1946 and was awarded a Bachelor of Education by the University of Melbourne in 1946 for a thesis on adult education. Hadgraft also authored ten entries in the Australian Dictionary of Biography between 1967 and 1983.

Personal life Hadgraft married fellow schoolteacher Jessie Hartley in 1933, with whom he had two children. He died in Brisbane on 19 February 1987 at the age of 82.