Ernest Brammah Smith wrote under the name Ernest Bramah from March 20, 1868, until June 27, 1942. He was an English poet. He wrote 21 books and a lot of short stories and articles. Many people put his funny writing up there with that of Jerome K. Jerome and W. W. Jacobs. They also put his mystery stories up there with Conan Doyle, his political science fiction with H. G. Wells, and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood. George Orwell said that What Might Have Been by Bramah had an effect on his book Nineteen Eighty-Four. Kai Lung and Max Carrados are characters that Bramah made up. Eric Ernest Brammah Smith was born in Manchester, England, in 1868. His middle name was spelled 'Brammah' instead of 'Bramah' on his birth certificate. He was the son of Charles Clement Smith and Susannah (Brammah) Smith. He quit Manchester Grammar School when he was 16 because he was near the bottom in every class. He learned how to be a farmer and then did it on his own. His father helped him with money. In a short time, he went from working in a workplace to being very rich.
