E. W. Hornung

E. W. Hornung

Ernest William Hornung was an English author and poet. He wrote the A. J. Raffles series of stories about a gentleman thief in late 19th-century London. He was educated at Uppingham School, but left in 1883 to travel to Sydney. He drew on his Australian experiences as a background when he began writing.

About E. W. Hornung in brief

Summary E. W. HornungErnest William Hornung was an English author and poet. He wrote the A. J. Raffles series of stories about a gentleman thief in late 19th-century London. He was educated at Uppingham School, but left in 1883 to travel to Sydney. He drew on his Australian experiences as a background when he began writing, initially short stories and later novels. The First World War brought an end to Hornung’s fictional output. His son, Oscar, was killed at the Second Battle of Ypres in July 1915. He died from influenza on the journey to the south of France in 1921, aged 54. His stories dealt with a wider range of themes than crime: he examined scientific and medical developments, guilt, class and the unequal role played by women in society. Two threads that run through a sizeable proportion of his books are Australia and cricket; the latter was also a lifelong passion. He published numerous books from 1890, with A Bride from the Bush to his 1914 novel The Crime Doctor. His work as a journalist was during the period of the Jack Ripper murders, which were undertaken against the background of urban crime in London. His first story appeared in Belgia magazine in 1887, although he published his first story under his own name, Five Five Five, which appeared in Stroke of Belgia, which was published in 1891, and in 1894 in Stravia magazine.

Hornung died in Paris on 22 March 1921, at the age of 54, and was buried at St Pancras Cathedral, where he had lived since 1883. He is survived by his wife, two children and a step-grandchild, and two step-great-grandchildren. The Raffles stories continued to be popular, and have formed numerous film and television adaptations, including a film version of The Great Gatsby and a TV series of The Mousetrap, starring Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Tom Courtenay, which is due to be released later this year. For more information on Ernest Hornung and his work, visit his website: http://www.ernest-hornung.org.uk/. For more about the Crime Doctor, visit http:// www.thecrimedoctor.com/. for more information about The Crime doctor, visit the website: http://thecrime doctor.com/. For more on Jack Rippers, see www.strokeofbelgium.com. For more details on the Raffles murders, see the book The Great Raffles Murders, which will be released in September 2014, and the film version in October 2014. The book will be available in cinemas around the world, including in the UK and the U.S. and Canada. It will also be on sale in the United States and Europe in the summer of 2014, with a UK release in the spring of 2015. For further information about the Raffle stories, visit www.cinema-world.co.uk.