Thomas Burke was born Sydney Thomas Burke on November 29th, 1886 in Eltham, London (at the time it was part of Kent). An author in the early years of the century who brought his skills of pen and eye to parts of London, specifically the Limehouse district of the East End and wrote with drive and vigour about the characters he met and the places that he knew. Whether he turned that material into fiction or non-fiction he words seep quality. His work ranged from these wonderful vignettes of down at heel London to writings on homosexuality and the English Countryside. Now sadly neglected we hope that the reprinting of his earlier works might once again give him the prominence and respect his talents deserve. Thomas Burke died in the Homeopathic Hospital in Queens Square, Bloomsbury on 22 September 1945.