Raffles, Gentleman Thief

Ernest William Hornung was born in Middlesborough in 1866 and was educated at Uppingham School. He spent two years in Australia as a private tutor and worked briefly as a clerk in London before devoting his time to writing. Hornung was a member of the same cricket club as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle. He eventually married Conan Doyle's sister, Connie. Hornung wrote several novels – including A Bride from the Bush (1890) and Stingaree (1905) – as well as a book of verse, but his fame rests upon his creation of Raffles the gentleman thief, considered the first antihero figure of modern crime fiction.