W. W. Jacobs was born on September 8th 1863. He was born into a large household in London. His mother was a novelist in her spare time. The young W. W. Jacobs worked for the Post Office, but gave it up to become a full-time writer. He was always an extremely popular writer, and during his lifetime he published twenty collections of short stories, as well as seven plays and five novels.
His inspiration came from his experiences of the working-class people of east London, many of whom lived in poverty. Jacobs was able to describe characters from all levels of society. These included captains, bargee-men and dock workers, and he also had a lot of sympathy for criminals and thieves. Many of his stories are funny and humorous.
Jacobs is not regarded as a great literary writer, but his stories tell us a great deal about life in late Victorian London.