Ernest William Hornung (June 7, 1866 – March 22, 1921), known as Willie, was an English author, most famous for writing the Raffles series of novels about a Gentleman thief in late Victorian Lon... (more)

Ernest William Hornung (June 7, 1866 – March 22, 1921), known as Willie, was an English author, most famous for writing the Raffles series of novels about a Gentleman thief in late Victorian London.
Hornung was the third son of John Peter Hornung, a Hungarian, and was born in Middlesbrough, England. He was educated at Uppingham School during some of the later years of its great headmaster, Edward Thring. He spent most of his life in England and France, but in 1884 left for Australia and stayed for two years where he working as a tutor at Mossgiel station. Although his Australian experience had been so short, it coloured most of his literary work from A Bride from the Bush published in 1899, to Old Offenders and a few Old Scores, which appeared after his death.
He returned from Australia in 1886, and married Constance ("Connie") Doyle (1868-1924), the sister of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1893. Hornung published the poems Bond and Free and Wooden Crosses in The Times. The character of A. J. Raffles, a "gentleman thief", first appeared in Cassell's Magazine in 1898 and the stories were later collected as The Amateur Cracksman (1899). Other titles in the series include The Black Mask (1901), A Thief in the Night (1905), and the full-length novel Mr. Justice Raffles (1909). He also co-wrote the play Raffles, The Amateur Cracksman with Eugene Presbrey in 1903.
Hornung's only child, a son, was killed at Ypres on July 6, 1915; Hornung then took up work with the YMCA in France. Hornung died in St. Jean de Luz, France in 1921, survived by his wife.
In addition to his novels and short stories Hornung wrote some good war verse, and a play based on the Raffles stories was produced successfully. He was much interested in cricket, and was "a man of large and generous nature, a delightful companion and conversationalist".
The model for Raffles was George Ives, a Cambridge-educated criminologist and talented cricketer acording to Lycett. Ives was a discreet gay, and although Hornung "may not have understood this sexual side of Ives' character", Raffles "enjoys a remarkably intimate relationship with his sidekick Bunny Manders."