Childhood: Ackerly was born in Herne Hill, south London, the son of Alfred Roger Ackerly, a director of Elder & Fyffes, the banana importers, and Netta Aylward, an actress.

Education: During the First World War he fought in the trenches and rose to the rank of captain. He was taken prisoner and spent eight months in Germany and then a year interned in Switzerland. After the war he went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge to read law but switched to English literature.

Work: Thanks to E. M. Forster he worked in India as a companion and secretary to the Maharajah of Chhatarpur, and tutor to his son. This period is described in his first work of prose, Hindoo Holiday,
Which alludes to the homosexuality of his employer, much to Forsters dismay. His first play, The Prisoners of War, based on his war experiences as an internee was a great success, described by Siegfried Sassoon as “the most powerful…the most impressive” play that he had ever seen. The implicit homosexuality which gave the play its emotional power went unnoticed at the time.

Greatest Achievement: The very candid autobiographical My Father and Myself.

Friends & Relationships: E. M. Forster whom he met in 1922 was ”the longest, closest and most influential” friend of his life.
Ackerly was a tall, slim, good looking man and he had many casual flings at Cambridge and when putting on his plays with stage staff and actors – all the while looking for an “ideal friend”. He even had a short thing with Ivor Novello. He had a four year relationship with a sailor from Portsmouth.Ultimately his ideal friend turned out to be a dog called Queenie, put into My Dog Tulip, and in his autobiographical novel we Think the World of You he tells of his relationship with a young man in the East End and his dog.After Queenie died in 1961his sister Nancy lived with him for many years. His other close friends included Forster, Sebastian Sprott( lover of John Maynard Keynes), William Plomer and Francis King whom he appointed his literary executor. J. R. Ackerly died in his sleep at his South London, flat.

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