Sydney Horler

Background

Sydney Horler was born on July 18, 1888, in Leytonstone, Essex, United Kingdom.

Education

Sydney Horler attended Redcliffe School and Colston School in Bristol.

Career

Horler's first job was with Western Daily Press and Allied Newspapers in Bristol started in 1905. He worked there until 1911 when he left to become a special writer on the staff of Edward Hulton and Co. in Manchester.

Sydney moved to London to work on the Daily Mail and Daily Citizen in Fleet Street, although he also worked in the propaganda section of Air Intelligence towards the end of the First World War. When it ended he joined the editorial staff of George Newnes as a sub editor of the John O'London's Weekly. He left the job in 1919. It was while at Newnes that his first novel was published by that firm, 'Standish of the Rangeland' (1916).

Later he decided that he would write fiction on a full-time basis, having contributed short stories for several boys' weeklies previously. His work appears in such as Chums, Boys' Pictorial, Boys' Friend Weekly and Boys' Realm. He also wrote for Hendersons, earning 10 shillings per 1000 words, writing for Penny Comic, Merry Moments and Tubby Haigs.

Achievements

Horler was a really prolific writer. Horler's work began to be commercially successful after being serialised in the News of the World. By the 1930s, Horler's books had sold an estimated two million copies.