Crofts, Freeman Wills

Freeman Wills Crofts was born in Dublin, Ireland, as the son of a British army surgeon who died when Croft was still young. Because his mother then married an archdeacon, Croft was brought up in a deeply religious home. He studied engineering, and at the age of seventeen he became an apprentice at the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway where he stayed until 1929 when he left for health reasons and became an author. 1912 he had married Mary Bellas Canning (the marriage was childless). 1930 he moved with his wife to London where he lived a quiet life, enjoying his favorite hobby – gardening.