Hornung and Raffles Part I

Ernest William Hornung is famous for being the author of the Raffles stories, adventure stories, a little like Sherlock Holmes but where the protagonist is AJ Raffles a “gentleman thief” and burglar.   He was born in 1866 in Middlesbrough, in the North of England… His father was a merchant, whose family came from Hungary, and Willie, as he was called was one of a large family.  He was sent to a good school, as his family were prosperous.   Like Raffles, he loved cricket, though he was not a good player, as his general health was delicate. At the age of 17, he was sent to Australia, in hopes that the warmer climate would improve his health.  He liked the new country and took a job as a tutor.  He also began to write.   In 1886 he returned to England, and found that his father’s business was not doing well.  His father died, and he began to write stories and journalistic articles.   He wrote a novel, The Bride from the Bush, set partly in Australia.    He also took an interest in crime; it was the period of the Jack the Ripper murders…. He made friends with fellow writers, including Jerome K Jerome and Arthur Conan Doyle, and fell in love with Doyle’s’ sister Constance... who became his wife.   They married in 1893, and had a son, Arthur Oscar, in 1895.  He was also friends with Oscar Wilde, and his son was named after Wilde.   He wrote more novels based in Australia, and was interested in the fact that the colony had begun as a prison colony for convicts.   He was moving towards a certain sympathy for the criminal as an underdog who was at times to be admired or pitied….