William John Locke

William John Locke (1863–1930) was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, took a mathematics degree at St John's College, Cambridge, and taught school before spending a decade as secretary of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He turned to fiction full time after The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne (1905) and The Beloved Vagabond (1906) made his name, and five of his books reached the annual American bestseller lists. Sunny, sentimental and frequently set in France, his novels and plays drew large audiences in Britain and the United States during his lifetime. He died of cancer in Paris in 1930.