Raffles the Thief
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A.J. (Arthur J.) Raffles is a character created by E. W. Hornung, a brother-in-law to Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Raffles is, in many ways, a deliberate inversion of Holmes — he is a "gentleman thief," living in the Albany Mansions, a very upscale address in London, playing cricket for the Gentlemen of England and supporting himself by carrying out ingenious burglaries. He is called the "Amateur Cracksman," and often, at first, differentiates between himself and the "professors" — professional criminals from the lower classes.
As Holmes has Dr. Watson to chronicle his adventures, Raffles has Harry "Bunny" Manders — a former schoolmate saved from disgrace and suicide by Raffles, who persuaded him to accompany him on a burglary. While Raffles often takes advantage of Manders' relative innocence, and sometimes treats him with a certain amount of contempt, he knows that Manders' bravery and loyalty are utterly to be relied on. In several stories, Manders saves the day for the two of them after Raffles gets into situations he cannot get out of on his own.
One of the things that Raffles has in common with Holmes is a mastery of disguise — during his days as an ostensible man-about-town, he maintains a studio apartment in another name in which he keeps the components of various disguises, and he can imitate the regional speech of many parts of Britain flawlessly, despite his lack of skill at foreign languages.
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Plot details
The "Raffles" stories can be divided up into two periods: pre-exposure and post-exposure, rather like the stories about Sherlock Holmes before and after his disappearance into the Reichenbach Falls. Prior to his exposure and alleged death, Raffles is a gentleman-about-town, of middle-class origins, best known for his cricketing feats. He is often invited to social events that would be out of his reach on the basis of his own background — "I was asked about for my cricket," he comments after this period is over. After his exposure as a thief and apparent death, he masquerades as an invalid, with only Bunny Manders in on his imposture, and then fakes the death of that invalid to become an anonymous face-in-the-crowd. He finally volunteers for the Boer War, and dies in battle after exposing an enemy spy.
The Raffles character was continued by Barry Perowne, who wrote stories set in two different milieux: one set had Raffles as a fairly-typical 1930s-era pulp adventure hero, and the other, in which Raffles only ever committed crimes for reasons of compassion, set in Raffles' original time, the last two decades of Queen Victoria's life and reign.
Personality
Raffles is cynical about society, but would settle down permanently if he could just make a big enough haul. At one point, he comments "we can't all be moralists, and the distribution of wealth is all wrong anyway," suggesting that he is less contented with the state of affairs in late-Victorian England than he seems to be. He is aware of the fact that many people who seem to be his friends only like him for his cricket, and he himself has lost all interest in the sport, keeping it up only for its excellent possiblities as a cover for his real occupation (which he considers far more interesting and exciting) and as mental practice. He does have scruples, despite his profession — he will not steal from his host if he is a guest, and he is reluctant to kill, although he does so once and plans to at another time. He also does feel badly about the way he abuses Manders' loyalty. Despite the risks he already takes, he is sometimes still a sportsman, and some of his crimes are for motives other than pure profit — in one of the later stories, he steals a gold cup from the British Museum in order to post it to the Queen on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee celebration, and in another, he steals money from a tight-fisted Old Boy of his old school in order to make a donation to the school in the name of "An Old Boy," shaming the man into making a donation after he had said he would not. His last crime, committed just before he goes off to the Boer War, is to steal a collection of memorabilia of his crimes from Scotland Yard's Black Museum.
Collections
The Raffles stories, all by E. W. Hornung, are collected in
- Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman
- A Thief in the Night
- The Black Mask
- Mr. Justice Raffles (novel, not successful).
John Kendrick Bangs authored a 1906 novel R. Holmes & Co. starring Raffles' son (and Sherlock Holmes' grandson), Raffles Holmes. The novel's second chapter tells the story of Holmes' pursuit of Raffles and his growing affection for Raffles' daughter.
The Barry Perowne version has appeared in several different forms, and the stories set in the 1890s have been collected.
Graham Greene wrote a play called The Return of A.J. Raffles which differs from the Hornung canon on several points.
Peter Tremayne wrote The Return of Raffles, a novel.
Philip Jose Farmer put Raffles and Manders into a science-fictional situation in his story "The Problem of the Sore Bridge."
There have also been several movies based on Raffles and his adventures. The best-known of these was Raffles, where Raffles was played by David Niven.
A subsequent television series, excellently done, was produced by Yorkshire Television in 1975. Writer Philip Mackie scripted the series in which Raffles was played by Anthony Valentine and Bunny Manders by Christopher Strauli.
Other References
Rowland, Peter, Raffles and His Creator: The Life and Works of E. W. Hornung, Nekta Publications, London, 1999. ISBN: 0-9533583-2-1