The Wallet of Kai Lung

Ernest Bramah (1868-1942)
Ernest Bramah was the working name of British writer Ernest Brammah Smith. Although rather reclusive, it is known that Bramah dropped out of Manchester Grammar School at the age of 16, after which he went into farming and began to write for the local newspaper. Over the course of his life he published 21 books and is best known for creating the characters Kai Lung and Max Carrados. George Orwell acknowledged that Bramah's book, What Might Have Been, influenced his Nineteen Eighty-Four. He died in London, aged 74.

For more information see http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/bramah_ernest