Thomas Burke

Thomas Burke (1886–1945) was an English writer best known for his stories and sketches of London's East End. Orphaned young, he grew up in poverty in the East End and in a children's home, and worked as a clerk and in a literary agency before turning to writing. Nights in London described the city after dark, and his collection Limehouse Nights, set in the Chinese quarter of the docks, caused a sensation in 1916; one of its stories became the basis of D. W. Griffith's film Broken Blossoms. He wrote many further books of stories, essays and London walks.