The Ballad of Ensign Joy

By E. W. Hornung

Ernest William Hornung was an English author and poet known for writing the A. J. Raffles series of stories about a gentleman thief in late 19th-century London. Hornung was educated at Uppingham School; as a result of poor health he left the school in December 1883 to travel to Sydney, where he stayed for two years. He drew on his Australian experiences as a background when he began writing, initially short stories and later novels.

• Language: English
• Publisher: anboco
• Release date: Sep 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9783736416550

E. W. Hornung

Ernest William Hornung (1866 –1921) was a prolific English poet and novelist, famed for his A. J. Raffles series of novels about a gentleman thief in late 19th century London. Hornung spent most of his life in England and France, but in 1883 he traveled to Australia where he lived for three years, his experiences there shaping many of his novels and short stories. On returning to England he worked as a journalist, and also published many of his poems and short stories in newspapers and magazines. A few years after his return, he married Constance Aimée Doyle, sister of his friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with whom he had a son. During WWI he followed the troops in French trenches and later gave a detailed account of his encounters in Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front. Ernest Hornung died in 1921.

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THE BALLAD of ENSIGN JOY

By E.W. Hornung

1917

THE BALLAD of ENSIGN JOY

THE BALLAD of ENSIGN JOY

By E.W. Hornung

E. P. Dutton & Company

1917

THE BALLAD of ENSIGN JOY

        I T is the story of

Ensign Joy

And the obsolete

rank withal

That I love for each gentle English

boy

Who jumped to his country's

call.

By their fire and fun, and the

deeds they've done,

I would gazette them Second to

none

Who faces a gun in Gaul!)

        IT is also the story of Ermyntrude

A less appropriate name

For the dearest prig and the

prettiest prude!

But under it, all the same,

The usual consanguineous squad

Had made her an honest child

of God—