Burke, Thomas (1886-1945)

English novelist and descriptive writer, who became known as the supreme interpreter of London's East End and Chinatown. His works include Nights in Town (1915), Limehouse Nights (1916), The Real East End (1932), and London in My Times (1934).

His verse includes Pavements and Pastures (1912) and London Lamps (1917); and his novels Murder at Elstree (1936), Abduction (1939), and the autobiographical The Wind and the Rain (1924).

Burke was born in London and orphaned at an early age. He worked in an office, then in a second-hand bookshop, and after that for a literary agent. His first work was published when he was 16.