Ernest Bramah (20 March 1868 –23 June 1942), the pseudonym of Ernest Brammah Smith, was an English author. He published 21 books and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works were often ranked with Jerome K. Jerome and W. W. Jacobs, his detective stories with Conan Doyle, his politico-science fiction with H. G. Wells, and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood. George Orwell acknowledged that Bramah's book What Might Have Been influenced his Nineteen Eighty-Four. Bramah created the characters Kai Lung and Max Carrados.

Early career

Ernest Brammah Smith (the spelling of his middle name on his birth certificate was recorded by the register as 'Brammah', not 'Bramah') was born in Manchester, England in 1868, the son of Charles Clement Smith and Susannah (Brammah) Smith. Aged 16, he quit Manchester Grammar School, having been near the bottom in each subject. He became a farmer, first as a pupil and then in his own right. He was assisted financially by his father, who had transformed in a short time from a factory hand to a wealthy man. The farming enterprise cost his father £100,000 in modern money, but it was while farming that Bramah began to contribute local vignettes to the Birmingham News. Later he wrote a satirical book about his adventures in farming. It had few buyers, and was remaindered and pulped, though his father agreed to assist him financially while he made his way in Grub Street as a writer. He eventually obtained a position as secretary to Jerome K. Jerome and became editor of one of Jerome's magazines. After quitting Jerome, Smith edited other journals for a publishing business that later went bankrupt.

Writing career

Bramah attained commercial and critical success with his creation of Kai Lung, an itinerant storyteller. He first appears in The Wallet of Kai Lung which was rejected by eight publishers before Grant Richards published it in 1900. It was still in print a hundred years later. The Kai Lung stories are humorous tales set in China, often with fantasy elements such as dragons and gods. With Kai Lung, Bramah developed a style of narration typified by the following passages: The Kai Lung stories include many proverbs and aphorisms, such as the following: Bramah also wrote political science fiction. What Might Have Been, published in 1907 and republished as The Secret of the League in 1909, is an anti-socialist dystopia representing Bramah's conservative political opinions. It was acknowledged by George Orwell as a source for Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell credited it with giving a considerably accurate prediction of the rise of Fascism. At a time when the English Channel had yet to be crossed by an aeroplane, Bramah foresaw aerial express trains traveling at 10,000 feet, a nationwide wireless-telegraphy network, a prototype fax machine and a cypher typewriter similar to the German Enigma machine. In 1914, Bramah created Max Carrados, a blind detective. Given the outlandish idea that a blind man could be a detective, in the introduction to the second Carrados book The Eyes of Max Carrados, Bramah compared his hero's achievements to those of real-life blind people such as Nicholas Saunderson, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, Blind Jack of Knaresborough the road builder, John Fielding the Bow Street Magistrate (of whom it was said he could identify 3,000 thieves by their voices), and Helen Keller. In 1929, Bramah wrote the book "English Regal Copper Coins" which was published by Methuen. The book concentrates on British copper coinage from 1671 during the reign of Charles II until the end of pure copper coin production in 1860. The book is still used widely by numismatic auction houses throughout the world with Bramah reference numbers. The section on coin rarity as a percentage of production for each year is still considered useful to date.

"Interesting times" and other quotations

Bramah has been credited with the invention of the saying, quoted often as an ancient Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times", along with "May you come to the attention of those in authority" and "May you find what you are looking for". However, these do not appear in the Kai Lung stories.

Archives at Harry Ransom Center

Bramah's manuscripts, correspondence and additional materials including his work for Jerome K. Jerome and as staff member for the magazine Today, The Idler and the Grosvenor Press are held at the University of Texas Harry Ransom Center. A letter of 27 April 1923 from Bramah to Grant Richards explains that he had never been to China.

Personal life and death

Bramah was a very private man who did not make public any details of his personal life. He was married to Lucy Maisie Smith. He died at the age of 74 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, leaving an estate valued at £15,172 (£0 as of 2025). After his death, his widow presented a collection of all his published books to the Hammersmith borough libraries, for reference use only. Bramah had lived in Hammersmith for some 30 years, not far from Ravenscourt Park.

Select bibliography

Kai Lung

Books

Max Carrados

Books

Short stories

Stage plays

Stage plays by others

Other fiction

Books

Short stories

Stage plays adapted by others

Nonfiction books