A. J. Raffles (character)

Arthur J. Raffles (usually called A. J. Raffles) is a fictional character created in 1898 by E. W. Hornung, brother-in-law to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Raffles is, in many ways, a deliberate inversion of Holmes – he is a "gentleman thief", living at the Albany, a prestigious address in London, playing cricket as a gentleman (or "amateur") for the Gentlemen of England and supporting himself by carrying out ingenious burglaries. He is called the "Amateur Cracksman", and often, at first, differentiates between himself and the "professors" – professional criminals from the lower classes.

A. J. Raffles
Raffles (right) lock-picking with Bunny's assistance, by John H. Bacon (1898)
First appearance"The Ides of March" (1898)
Created byE. W. Hornung
Portrayed byAnthony Valentine
Jeremy Clyde
David Niven and others
In-universe information
GenderMale
OccupationGentleman thief
"Amateur" cricketer
NationalityBritish

As Holmes has Dr. Watson to chronicle his adventures, Raffles has Harry "Bunny" Manders – a former schoolmate saved from disgrace by Raffles, whom Raffles persuaded to accompany him on a burglary. Raffles is an expert thief, and like Holmes, he is a master of disguise. Raffles has been portrayed by a number of actors across multiple adaptations.

Inspiration

Hornung was inspired by the Sherlock Holmes stories of his brother-in-law, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Hornung dedicated The Amateur Cracksman to Doyle: "To A. C. D. This Form of Flattery".[1] It has been suggested that Raffles's name may have been inspired by the title of Doyle's 1891 novel The Doings of Raffles Haw.[2] Richard Lancelyn Green points out that Raffles shares his first name with Conan Doyle and with Hornung's son, Arthur Oscar Hornung. Similarly, Green writes, Raffles's initials are those of Hornung's housemaster at Uppingham School, A. J. Tuck, and, in reverse, those of J. A. Turner, the cricket captain at Uppingham during 1882, Hornung's first year there.[3]

The model for Raffles was George Ives, a Cambridge-educated criminologist and talented cricketer, according to Andrew Lycett. Hornung and Ives both played cricket for the Authors Cricket Club. Ives was privately homosexual, and although Hornung "may not have understood this sexual side of Ives' character", Raffles "enjoys a remarkably intimate relationship with his sidekick Bunny Manders."[4] Owen Dudley Edwards claims that Raffles and Bunny are "an imitation of Holmes and Watson which is very obviously homosexual",[5] while C. P. Snow, in a 1975 review, describes their relationship as juvenile and innocent, but with homosexual undertones.[6] However, Raffles is also shown to have romantic relationships with at least two women: the Neapolitan girl Faustina (in "The Fate of Faustina"), and an artist using the name Jacques Saillard (in "An Old Flame"). Biographer Peter Rowland notes that these relationships are not shown until the second Raffles story collection, The Black Mask.[7]

Rowland writes that Raffles and Manders were also fictionalised versions of Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas.[8]

Characters in Hornung's 1896 short story "After the Fact" were prototypes for Raffles and Bunny.[9] In "After the Fact", which is set in Australia, a young man, Bower, discovers that the man he used to fag for at school, Deedes, is a burglar. Hornung explained in an interview with Tit-Bits in 1909:

A good many years ago I wrote a story about a public-school villain; he committed a terrible crime in Australia, and was met by his old fag, who shielded him. Unfortunately, I killed the villain at the end of the story. One day my brother-in-law, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to whom I owe a very great deal, said to me, 'What a pity you killed that fellow! A public-school villain would be a new figure for a series. Why not revive him?' 'I don't believe I could write such a series to save my life,' I replied. However, I was advised to think the suggestion over. I did so, and the eventual result was a variation of the type in the shape of Raffles.[9]

"After the Fact" was inspired by Hornung's travels in Australia and by his only experience with a real burglar, which occurred while the author was living at Teddington, England. Hornung described the incident to Tit-Bits in 1909 when discussing Raffles, though the burglar was unimpressive and nothing like the gentleman thief character. Hornung had been asked by a house's caretakers to help them catch a burglar, who tried to hide in a space under the kitchen floor but was ultimately apprehended by a policeman.[10]

In his book Raffles and His Creator, Peter Rowland states that Deedes is Raffles's prototype, but also differs significantly from Raffles. While Raffles and Deedes are both charismatic, Raffles has a code of honour and "is not really evil at all" according to Rowland, whereas Deedes "turns very nasty indeed" after Bower tries to get him to return the money he stole. Rowland writes that "Hornung (having passed the midway point of his story) had realised that he was on very dangerous ground and had speedily de-glamorised Deedes. Morality had been asserted at the eleventh hour, and justice had to be administered without further ado.... After experimenting with his new concept in 'After the Fact', Hornung was aware that his amateur cracksman would have to be a thoroughly decent chap even if he is a bit of a law-breaker."[11] Furthermore, Raffles views burglary as a sporting challenge and has a prominent position in society (as a gentleman cricketer), unlike Deedes, who is only after money and is a social outcast.[12]

Fictional biography

History

Raffles has a sister.[13] At his public school, Raffles played cricket and was captain of the eleven. He also played rugby football.[14] He attended the same public school as Bunny, who was Raffles's fag (a junior student who does menial jobs for an older student). In "The Ides of March" Bunny says that Raffles was kind to him at school. In turn, Bunny would help Raffles sneak out of their dormitory at night, pulling up the rope after him and later letting it down for him to climb back in. Raffles stole at least one policeman's helmet while at Oxford according to the short story "A Costume Piece", but was a member of the Cambridge cricket team according to "The Field of Philippi". Raffles eventually becomes a gentleman cricketer. At one point, he goes to Australia to play cricket and commits his first burglary there, as he tells Bunny in "Le Premier Pas". He uses the prestige of his sporting fame to maintain his standing in London society, while secretly supporting himself with burglary. Raffles plays for multiple cricket clubs and teams, including I Zingari, the Gentlemen against the Players,[15] the Middlesex eleven,[16] and the English team.[17] He lives in the Albany, a prestigious residential building in London.

Ten years after they were at their public school together,[18] Raffles meets Bunny again when they play baccarat with others in "The Ides of March". Raffles saves Bunny from disgrace and suicide, and Bunny becomes his accomplice. "The Ides of March" takes place in March 1891 (according to biographer Peter Rowland).[19] Raffles and Bunny act as "amateur" (gentleman) thieves and rob wealthy members of London society while appearing respectable. They encounter a rival thief, Crawshay, in "Gentlemen and Players" and again in "The Return Match". Scotland Yard detective Inspector Mackenzie, who is first mentioned in "A Costume Piece" and is first seen by Bunny in "Gentlemen and Players", is suspicious of Raffles. Inspector Mackenzie ultimately exposes Raffles and Bunny as burglars in "The Gift of the Emperor" on a passenger liner. Raffles jumps overboard, and is believed to have drowned, while Bunny is arrested and serves a term of eighteen months in prison.

Raffles survives and goes to Italy, where he endures hardships, as he later tells Bunny in "The Fate of Faustina". Raffles returns to England, and in "No Sinecure", set in May 1897, Raffles, now in disguise so that the police will not realize he is alive, reunites with Bunny. They become "professional" thieves and no longer have their old positions as respectable gentlemen in society. Initially, Raffles pretends to be an invalid named Mr. Maturin living under a doctor's supervision in an Earl's Court flat, with Bunny as his nurse. After Raffles fakes his death a second time in "An Old Flame", they move to a cottage owned by a genial landlady on the edge of Ham Common, where Raffles pretends he is Bunny's brother Ralph. In December 1899, Raffles and Bunny become interested in the Boer War. In 1900, they decide to volunteer for service in the war, leaving England in February and enlisting in South Africa. Six months after first taking an interest in the war, Raffles is killed in battle. Bunny, wounded in battle, eventually returns to England and writes about his adventures with Raffles.

Appearance
Raffles (right) with Bunny after the time skip, by F. C. Yohn (1901)

At the start of the series, Raffles has piercing steel blue eyes, curly black hair, pale skin, an athletic build, a strong, unscrupulous mouth, and is clean-shaven.[20][21] Raffles once had a heavy moustache, but apparently shaved it after his first burglary. As Raffles tells Bunny: '"I used to have rather a heavy moustache," said Raffles, "but I lost it the day after I lost my innocence."'[22] He is some years older than Bunny, who is thirty years old in "An Old Flame", which takes place sometime after Raffles and Bunny reunite in "No Sinecure".

After the time skip, Raffles's appearance is considerably aged due to his hardships abroad. His face is more wrinkled and pale than before, he appears weakened, and his hair has turned completely white. His sharp eyes and strong mouth, however, are unchanged.[23] His physical strength later returns to him when he and Bunny move to live in the suburbs, where Raffles also wears clouded spectacles during the day to partially conceal his face.[24]

Raffles dyes his hair after he decides to volunteer for military service in 1900, to make sure he is not recognized by officers he knew in the past. According to Bunny, Raffles acquires "a bottle of ladies' hair-dye, warranted to change any shade into the once fashionable yellow", though Raffles is ultimately "ginger-headed" by the end of January, shortly before they leave England.[14]

Personality

Raffles is charismatic and has "the subtle power of making himself irresistible at will", as stated by Bunny.[25] Raffles is cynical about society, and is aware that his social position depends upon his status as a cricketer.[26] At one point, he comments "we can't all be moralists, and the distribution of wealth is all wrong anyway".[25] He does have scruples, despite his profession – he will not steal from his host, and will not kill to accomplish a burglary. (He does kill once under different circumstances according to the story he recounts in "The Fate of Faustina" and plans to at another time in "Wilful Murder".) He tells Bunny that he would settle down permanently if he could just make a big enough haul.[27] He is also very patriotic.[28]

In "Gentlemen and Players", Raffles claims he has lost all enthusiasm for cricket, and keeps it up only as a cover for his real occupation (which he considers more exciting) and as mental exercise. However, Bunny observes that Raffles practises earnestly before the first match of the season, and that when Raffles did play, "there was no keener performer on the field, nor one more anxious to do well for his side."[15]

Though Raffles is driven by economic necessity, he also pursues burglary as a sporting challenge,[29] and considers himself a sort of artist.[30] Some of his crimes do not involve a motive for profit. In a late story, he steals a gold cup from the British Museum on impulse: when challenged by Bunny as to how he will dispose of it, he posts it to the Queen as a Diamond Jubilee present. In "The Field of Philippi", he steals money from a tight-fisted Old Boy and donates it all to their former school, partly to spite the man. His last crime, committed just before he goes off to the Boer War, is to steal a collection of memorabilia of his crimes from Scotland Yard's Black Museum.

While Raffles sometimes keeps parts of his plans secret from Bunny for various reasons, for instance to keep Bunny from inadvertently revealing something, he knows that Bunny's loyalty and bravery are to be relied on utterly.[31] In several stories, Bunny saves the day for the two of them after Raffles gets into situations he cannot get out of on his own.

Raffles is partial to Sullivan cigarettes and keeps them in a silver cigarette case.[32]

Skills
Raffles using his rope-ladder, by Cyrus Cuneo (1905)

One of the things that Raffles has in common with Sherlock Holmes is a mastery of disguise – during his days as an ostensible man-about-town, Raffles keeps the components of various disguises in a studio apartment in Chelsea, which he maintains under a false name.[33] He can imitate the regional speech of many parts of Britain flawlessly, and is fluent in Italian.[34]

Raffles is adept at using burglary tools such as hand drills and skeleton keys. He also uses more unusual tools of his own invention, including a rope-ladder which can be concealed under his waistcoat and hooked up with a telescopic walking-stick, and a small velvet bag designed to silence the sound of filing a skeleton key. These tools are used in various stories and displayed together in Scotland Yard's Black Museum in "The Raffles Relics". He has a small dark lantern in "The Ides of March" and uses a collapsible opera hat as a makeshift lantern in "The Rest Cure". He takes time to examine places he intends to steal from in advance, and is capable of improvising when the need arises.[35]

Raffles is also skilled as a cricketer. In "Gentlemen and Players", Bunny describes Raffles as "a dangerous bat, a brilliant field, and perhaps the very finest slow bowler of his decade". Raffles believes that bowling provides good mental practice for "always looking for the weak spot", and Bunny, while watching Raffles play, notices how Raffles's skills as a cricketer overlap with his skills as a thief: "What I admired, and what I remember, was the combination of resource and cunning, of patience and precision, of head-work and handiwork, which made every over an artistic whole. It was all so characteristic of that other Raffles whom I alone knew!"[15]

Reception

The Raffles stories were instantly popular in Britain.[36] Raffles became the second most popular fictional character of the time, behind Sherlock Holmes.[37] Raffles has also been called the most famous fictional cricketer.[38]

In his 1944 essay "Raffles and Miss Blandish", George Orwell writes that Raffles and Bunny hold themselves to certain standards of behaviour as gentlemen even though they are criminals, in contrast with the violent criminals of then-contemporary crime fiction. Orwell, who calls Raffles "one of the best-known characters in English fiction", states that "the charm of Raffles is partly in the period atmosphere and partly in the technical excellence of the stories.... However, the truly dramatic thing, about Raffles, the thing that makes him a sort of byword even to this day (only a few weeks ago, in a burglary case, a magistrate referred to the prisoner as ‘a Raffles in real life’), is the fact that he is a gentleman."[28]

Orwell says in his essay that, though Raffles and Bunny "are devoid of religious belief, and they have no real ethical code, merely certain rules of behaviour", they "are gentlemen, and such standards as they do have are not to be violated. Certain things are ‘not done’, and the idea of doing them hardly arises. Raffles will not, for example, abuse hospitality. He will commit a burglary in a house where he is staying as a guest, but the victim must be a fellow-guest and not the host." Orwell also comments that Raffles's crimes are relatively minor, and that the stories contain very little "sensationalism" in the form of violence, unlike many other works of crime fiction, including novels written from the perspective of a detective.[28]

Literary critic Stuart Evers said of the Raffles stories, "Their off-kilter plotting and sometimes hysterical style, which Hornung uses to great effect to show Bunny's emotionally erratic state, may date them. But the constant inventiveness and sly wit of Hornung make every one a real joy. They are among the great treasures of crime writing, and should be cherished as such."[39]

Influence

Raffles has been described as "the classic gentleman thief". The character contributed to the archetype of the gentleman criminal who has a code of honour, only steals from the rich, and is drawn to burglary for the sport as much as for the money.[40]

A. J. Raffles appeared in print before author Maurice Leblanc created the French gentleman thief character Arsène Lupin in 1905. Jess Nevins writes that Raffles is better known that Lupin in English-speaking countries, though Lupin has been more widely imitated in the popular literature of Europe, Asia, and Central and South America.[41] Martin Edwards states that Lupin was heavily influenced by Raffles.[42] According to Federico Pagello, the Raffles series was the most influential predecessor to the Lupin series, though both series were also influenced by the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. The gentleman thief character Raffles (Lord Lister), introduced in a German magazine in 1908, was an imitation of Hornung's Raffles.[43]

The British press used Raffles as a synonym for a real-life thief in at least forty-seven newspaper articles in the period 1905–1939, in many cases in the headlines. Examples include the articles "'Raffles' in Real Life" (Daily Express, 1907) and "Exploit of a 'Raffles'" (Daily Herald, 1927). The same usage can be seen in press reports from the same period in other countries, such as "'Cat' Burglar: A Modern Raffles" (Brisbane Courier, 1927) and "Feminine Raffles Comes to Grief" (Los Angeles Times, 1927).[44] Raffles has also been referenced in newspaper articles about real thefts since this period.[45]

While Raffles and Bunny were inspired by Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, several of the Holmes stories, including the story of his return from the dead, were not published until after the first two collections of Raffles short stories, The Amateur Cracksman and The Black Mask, were published in 1899 and 1901 respectively. Arthur Conan Doyle killed off Holmes in "The Adventure of the Final Problem" (1893) and did not write of him again until The Hound of the Baskervilles (serialised 1901–1902), which is set before "The Adventure of the Final Problem". Peter Rowland writes that Doyle's biographers generally acknowledge that his decision to return Holmes to life in "The Adventure of the Empty House" in October 1903 was prompted by Hornung's success with A. J. Raffles, who had been returned to life in the 1901 story "No Sinecure" after his supposed death in an earlier story. The grand reveal scene in "The Adventure of the Empty House", when Holmes drops his disguise, parallels Raffles's own reveal scene in "No Sinecure". Thus, while the pre-hiatus Sherlock Holmes stories influenced the Raffles stories, this relationship would later be reversed.[46]

The plot of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" (1904) was inspired by the Raffles story "Wilful Murder" (1899), according to Richard Lancelyn Green.[47] A character in the Sherlock Holmes novel The Valley of Fear (1915), Scottish police detective Inspector MacDonald, may have been inspired by the Scottish police detective Inspector Mackenzie of the Raffles stories, though the two inspectors are very different in character.[48]

Works
Main article: Raffles stories and adaptations

A. J. Raffles appears in the following four books (three short story collections and one novel) by E. W. Hornung. Most of the short stories were first published in magazines.

Raffles also features in pastiches written by Barry Perowne, Peter Tremayne, Richard Foreman, and other authors.

Portrayals
Kyrle Bellew in the Broadway production of Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1903)

Theatre

Film
John Barrymore (right foreground) in Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1917)

Radio
  • Raffles was voiced by Frederic Worlock in a CBS radio production, Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1934).[55]
  • Malcolm Graeme voiced Raffles in a radio adaptation of "The Ides of March" broadcast on 9 December 1941 on the BBC Forces Programme.[56]
  • Horace Braham voiced Raffles in CBS radio productions between 1942 and 1945.[55]
  • Raffles was voiced by Frank Allenby in six radio episodes broadcast on the BBC Light Programme between 3 December 1945 and 14 January 1946.[57]
  • Austin Trevor voiced Raffles in a radio adaptation of Mr. Justice Raffles that aired on the BBC Home Service on 8 February 1964.[58]
  • Jeremy Clyde voiced Raffles in the 1985–1993 BBC radio series Raffles, which included a dramatisation of the play The Return of A. J. Raffles.
  • John Armstrong portrayed Raffles in the Imagination Theatre radio series Raffles, the Gentleman Thief (2004–2016).

Television
gollark: Ah, it's specifically CHARGED particles, I checked.
gollark: No, I mean is Cherenkov radiation not... caused by alpha/beta radiation, not neutrinos?
gollark: Neutrinos are very weakly interacting.
gollark: It's stuff other than neutrinos, isn't it?
gollark: I mean, light will get absorbed and reemitted a lot by any matter in the star, neutrinos won't.

References
Notes
  1. Hornung (2003) [1899], "Introduction" by Richard Lancelyn Green, p. xxxv.
  2. Stashower, Daniel (2001) [1999]. Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle. Macmillan. ISBN 9780805066845.
  3. Hornung (2003) [1899], "Notes" by Richard Lancelyn Green, p. 142.
  4. Lycett, Andrew (2008). The Man who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. New York: Phoenix Books. pp. 229–30. ISBN 978-0-7538-2428-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  5. Edwards, Owen Dudley (1983). The Quest for Sherlock Holmes: A Biographical Study of Arthur Conan Doyle. Mainstream. p. 110. ISBN 9780851054070.
  6. Hornung (2003) [1899], "Introduction" by Richard Lancelyn Green, p. xlv.
  7. Rowland (1999), p. 137. "The latent homosexuality, it should be added (and as Owen Dudley Edwards has pointed out), is played down in the two subsequent volumes of short stories. In The Black Mask Raffles tells Bunny about his romance with the ill-fated Faustina and later re-encounters an old flame in the shape of Jacques Saillard".
  8. Rowland, Peter (2004). "Hornung, Ernest William (1866–1921)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37572. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  9. Hornung (2003) [1899], "Introduction" by Richard Lancelyn Green, pp. xx–xxi.
  10. Hornung (2003) [1899], "Introduction" by Richard Lancelyn Green, p. xix. Quote from Hornung: "[The policeman] peered underneath the floor with his lantern, at which the burglar began throwing bits of builders' chips. Suddenly the policeman beamed upon us all. 'He hit me on the leg!' he cried. 'I'll charge him with that!' They had to pull up the whole floor before they unearthed a wizened half-starved creature, who whiningly exclaimed, 'I ain't been doing nothing. I only came in to 'ave a smoke!' The poor little performer got two months, but I never heard how much of it was for assaulting the six-foot constable with a missile perhaps the size of a pea!"
  11. Rowland (1999), pp. 128–129.
  12. Rowland (1999), pp. 129–130.
  13. Hornung, E. W. "The Return Match", The Amateur Cracksman. 706. "I don't say much about my people, Bunny, but I have the best of sisters married to a country parson in the eastern counties. They always make me welcome, and let me read the lessons for the sake of getting me to church."
  14. Hornung, E. W. "The Knees of the Gods", Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman (also titled The Black Mask). 707
  15. Hornung, E. W. "Gentlemen and Players", The Amateur Cracksman. 706.
  16. Hornung, E. W. "The Chest of Silver" and "The Rest Cure", A Thief in the Night.
  17. Hornung, E. W. "A Bad Night", A Thief in the Night. 2098.
  18. Hornung, E. W. "The Ides of March", The Amateur Cracksman. 706. '"Exactly," said Raffles, nodding to himself, as though in assent to some hidden train of thought; "exactly what I remember of you, and I'll bet it's as true now as it was ten years ago."'
  19. Rowland (1999), p. 122.
  20. Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman, chapter "Nine Points of the Law", p. 160.
  21. Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman, chapter "The Ides of March", p. 11.
  22. Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman, chapter "Le Premier Pas", p. 146.
  23. Hornung, The Black Mask, chapter "No Sinecure", p. 17.
  24. Hornung, The Black Mask, chapter "The Wrong House", pp. 214–215.
  25. Hornung, E. W. "The Ides of March", The Amateur Cracksman. 706.
  26. Hornung, E. W. "To Catch a Thief", Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman (also titled The Black Mask). 707. "Society is in rings like a target, and we never were in the bull's-eye, however thick you may lay on the ink! I was asked for my cricket. I haven't forgotten it yet."
  27. Hornung, E. W. "The Ides of March", The Amateur Cracksman. 706. "I've never brought off a really big coup yet; when I do I shall chuck it up." (Raffles also says something similar at the end of "Nine Points of the Law".)
  28. Orwell, George. "Raffles and Miss Blandish". Orwell Foundation. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  29. Hornung, E. W. "A Costume Piece", The Amateur Cracksman. 706. "Now there's some credit, and more sport, in going where they boast they're on their guard against you. The Bank of England, for example, is the ideal crib; but that would need half a dozen of us with years to give to the job; and meanwhile Reuben Rosenthall is high enough game for you and me. We know he's armed. We know how Billy Purvis can fight. It'll be no soft thing, I grant you. But what of that, my good Bunny—what of that? A man's reach must exceed his grasp, dear boy, or what the dickens is a heaven for?"
  30. Hornung, E. W. "A Costume Piece", The Amateur Cracksman. 706. "Art for art’s sake is a vile catchword, but I confess it appeals to me. In this case my motives are absolutely pure, for I doubt if we shall ever be able to dispose of such peculiar stones. But if I don’t have a try for them—after to-night—I shall never be able to hold up my head again."
  31. Hornung, E. W. "The Chest of Silver", A Thief in the Night. 2098. "You would have done your damnedest, Bunny! There is no limit to your heroism; but you forget the human equation in the pluckiest of the plucky. I couldn't afford to forget it, Bunny; I couldn't afford to give a point away. Don't talk as though I hadn't trusted you! I trusted my very life to your loyal tenacity."
  32. Hornung (2003) [1899], "Notes" by Richard Lancelyn Green, pp. 3, 141. Note by Green: "Sullivan: A cigarette made by Sullivan, Powell & Co., Ltd, of 4 George Street, Hanover Square".
  33. Hornung, E. W. "A Costume Piece", The Amateur Cracksman. 706.
  34. "The Last Laugh"
  35. Rowland (1999), p. 127.
  36. Jones, Michael D. (2018). "Raffles Stories". In Morrison, Kevin A. (ed.). Companion to Victorian Popular Fiction. McFarland. p. 195. ISBN 9781476669038.
  37. Bleiler, Richard. "Raffles: The Gentleman Thief". strandmag.com. Strand Magazine. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  38. Sengupta, Arunabha (7 June 2016). "EW Hornung: The creator of Raffles, the most famous fictional cricketer". Cricket Country. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  39. Evers, Stuart (28 April 2009). "The moral riddles of AJ Raffles". The Guardian. BBC. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  40. Richards, Jeffrey (2014) [1973]. Visions of Yesterday (Reprinted ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781317928614.
  41. Nevins, Jess (2017). The Evolution of the Costumed Avenger: The 4,000-Year History of the Superhero. ABC-CLIO. p. 149. ISBN 9781440854842.
  42. Edwards, Martin (2018) [2017]. Foreign Bodies (Reprinted ed.). Sourcebooks. ISBN 9781464209116.
  43. Pagello, Federico (2015). "The Myth of the Gentleman Burglar: Models of Serialization and Temporality in Early Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction". In Miranda, Carolina (ed.). Serial Crime Fiction: Dying for More. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 22–24. ISBN 9781137483690.
  44. Moss, Eloise (2019). Night Raiders: Burglary and the Making of Modern Urban Life in London, 1860-1968. Oxford University Press. pp. 61–62. ISBN 9780198840381.
  45. Examples: “Raffles' Baffles London Cops” (The Washington Post, 1983), “Real-life Raffles stalks the rich” (The Guardian, 2005), and “Raffles, a petty thief or the Duke himself: Who was behind £1m jewel heist?” (Daily Express, 2020).
  46. Rowland (1999), p. 137–138.
  47. Hornung (2003) [1899], "Introduction" by Richard Lancelyn Green, p. xli.
  48. Doyle, Arthur Conan (1994) [1915]. Edwards, Owen Dudley (ed.). The Valley of Fear. Oxford University Press. p. 181. ISBN 9780192823823. As stated in a note by Owen Dudley Edwards.
  49. Lachman, Marvin (31 October 2014). The Villainous Stage: Crime Plays on Broadway and in the West End. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0786495344.
  50. Rowland (1999), p. 261.
  51. Hornung (2003) [1899], "Further Reading" chapter by Richard Lancelyn Green, pp. l–li.
  52. "Eille Norwood", Who's Who in the Theatre, Volume 3, ed. John Parker, Boston: Small, Maynard, and Co., 1912, p. 372
  53. "The Return of A J Raffles". Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  54. Pitts, Michael R. (1991). Famous Movie Detectives II. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0810823457.
  55. Pitts, Michael R. (2004). Famous Movie Detectives III. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 301. ISBN 978-0810836907.
  56. "The Ides of March". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  57. "Frank Allenby as 'Raffles'". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  58. "Saturday-Night Theatre". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
Sources
  • Hornung, E. W. (1899). The Amateur Cracksman. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  • Hornung, E. W. (1901). The Black Mask. Auckland, New Zealand: The Floating Press. ISBN 978-1-775415-09-1.
  • Hornung, E. W. (2003) [1899]. Richard Lancelyn Green (ed.). Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (Reprinted ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1856132824.
  • Rowland, Peter (1999). Raffles and His Creator. London: Nekta Publications. ISBN 0-9533583-2-1.

Further reading
  • Butler, William Vivian (1973). The Durable Desperadoes. London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-333-14217-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Chandler, Frank Wadleigh (1907). The Literature of Roguery. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Cox, Alison (1988). "E.W. Hornung". In Benstock, Bernard; Staley, Thomas (eds.). British Mystery Writers, 1920–1939. Detroit: Gale Research. ISBN 978-0-7876-3072-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Neuburg, Victor E. (1983). The Popular Press Companion to Popular Literature. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. ISBN 978-0-87972-233-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Rance, Nick (1990). "The Immorally Rich and Richly Immoral: Raffles and the Plutocracy". In Bloom, Clive (ed.). Twentieth-Century Suspense: The Thriller Comes of Age. Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-0-333-47592-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Rowland, Peter (2004). "Hornung, Ernest William (1866–1921)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37572. Retrieved 19 December 2013. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  • Valentine, Mark (July 2008). "E.W. Hornung: Creator of Raffles, the Gentleman Crook". The Book and Magazine Collector. The Metropolis Group (296).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Watson, Colin (1971). Snobbery With Violence: English Crime Stories and their Audience. London: Eyre Methuen. ISBN 0-413-46570-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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