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External links

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	;Digital collections		;Digital collections
	* {{StandardEbooks\|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/a-e-w-mason}}		* {{StandardEbooks\|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/a-e-w-mason}}
	* {{Gutenberg author \|no=1564}}
	* {{FadedPage\|id=Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)\|name=A. E. W. Mason\|author=yes}}		* {{FadedPage\|id=Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)\|name=A. E. W. Mason\|author=yes}}
	* {{Internet Archive author \|sname=Alfred Edward Woodley Mason}}		* {{Internet Archive author \|sname=Alfred Edward Woodley Mason}}
	* {{Librivox author \|id=2117}}
	* [http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-a-m.html#mason A E W Mason] at [http://gutenberg.net.au Project Gutenberg Australia]

	;Physical collections and biographical information		;Physical collections and biographical information

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	{{Short description\|English novelist (1865–1948)}}		{{Short description\|English novelist (1865–1948)}}
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=January 2018}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=January 2018}}
	~~{{Use British English\|date=October 2025}}~~
	{{Infobox writer		{{Infobox writer
	\|birth_name = Alfred Edward Woodley Mason		\|birth_name = Alfred Edward Woodley Mason

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{{Short description|English novelist (1865–1948)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
|birth_name = Alfred Edward Woodley Mason
|image = Picture of A. E. W. Mason.jpg
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1865|5|7|df=y}}
|birth_place = London, England
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1948|11|22|1865|5|7|df=y}}
|death_place = London, England
|occupation = Author
}}
{{refimprove|date=October 2025}}

'''Alfred Edward Woodley Mason''' (7 May 1865–22 November 1948) was an English author and [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] Member of Parliament. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel of courage and cowardice in wartime, ''[[The Four Feathers]]'', and is also known as the creator of [[Inspector Hanaud]], a French detective who was an early template for [[Agatha Christie]]'s famous [[Hercule Poirot]].

His prolific output in short stories and novels were frequently made and remade into films during his lifetime; though many of the silent versions have been lost or forgotten, the productions of ''[[Fire Over England]]'' (1937) and ''[[The Four Feathers (1939 film)|The Four Feathers]]'' (1939) remain enduring classics of British cinema.

== Life ==
Mason was born in [[Camberwell]]. He studied at [[Dulwich College]] and graduated from [[Trinity College, Oxford]], in 1888. He was a contemporary of fellow Liberal [[Anthony Hope]], who went on to write the [[adventure novel]] ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]''.<ref name="Kabatchnik2010">{{cite book|author=Amnon Kabatchnik|title=Blood on the Stage, 1925-1950: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection: an Annotated Repertoire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J0GbcGlgnksC&pg=PA223|year=2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=978-0-8108-6963-9|page=223}}</ref> He was an actor before he became a writer, and took the role of Major Plechanoff in the premiere of [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Arms and the Man]]'' in 1894.<ref name="Green1952">{{harvnb|Green|1952|p=50}}</ref> He was also an avid cricket player.

[[Arthur Quiller-Couch]] and [[Oscar Wilde]] encouraged him to write, and his first novel, ''[[A Romance of Wastdale (novel)|A Romance of Wastdale]]'', was published in 1895.<ref name = "ODNBMason">{{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/34916|title=Mason, Alfred Edward Woodley}}</ref> He was the author of more than 30 books, including ''[[At the Villa Rose (novel)|At The Villa Rose]]'' (1910), a mystery novel in which he introduced his French detective, [[Inspector Hanaud]]; Hanaud's career in six novels spanned from before [[World War I]] to after [[World War II]].

His best-known book is ''[[The Four Feathers]]'', which has been made into several films (see below). Many consider it his masterpiece. Other books are ''[[The House of the Arrow (novel)|The House of the Arrow]]'' (1924), ''[[No Other Tiger]]'' (1927), ''[[The Prisoner in the Opal]]'' (1929) and ''[[Fire Over England]]'' (1937). He contributed a short story, "The Conjurer", to ''[[The Queen's Book of the Red Cross]]''.

Mason was elected as a [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] Member of Parliament for [[Coventry (UK Parliament constituency)|Coventry]] in the [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906 general election]]. He served only a single term in Parliament, retiring at the next general election [[January 1910 United Kingdom general election|in January 1910]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=M. Stenton |author2=S. Lees |title=Who's Who of British MPs |volume=II |publisher=Harvester Press |date=1978}}</ref>

His first play was the four-act comedy ''Marjory Strode''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review: ''Marjory Strode'' by A. E. W. Mason|journal=[[Athenaeum (British magazine)|The Athenaeum]]|number=4196|pages=395–396|date=March 28, 1908|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XSI5AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA395|last1=Buckingham|first1=James Silk|last2=Sterling|first2=John|last3=Maurice|first3=Frederick Denison|last4=Stebbing|first4=Henry|last5=Dilke|first5=Charles Wentworth|last6=Hervey|first6=Thomas Kibble|last7=Dixon|first7=William Hepworth|last8=MacColl|first8=Norman|last9=Rendall|first9=Vernon Horace|last10=Murry|first10=John Middleton}}</ref> Mason wrote three plays that were produced and presented by [[George Alexander (actor)|Sir George Alexander]] in [[St James's Theatre]]. He wrote, "I had three plays produced by George Alexander; one a failure, ''Colonel Smith'', one which made a moderate profit, ''Open Windows'', and one which was a considerable success, ''The Witness for the Defence''."<ref>{{cite book|author=Mason, A. E. W.|title=Sir George Alexander and the St. James' Theatre|year=1935|page=22|publisher=Ayer Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0405087624}}</ref> The light farce ''Colonel Smith'' opened on 23 April 1909. ''The Witness for the Defence'' opened on 1 February 1911, starring Sir George Alexander as Henry Thresk. In 1913 Mason's [[problem play]] ''Open Windows'' opened on the evening of 11 March, starring [[Sydney Valentine]] as ''Phillip Hammond'', [[Irene Vanbrugh]] as ''Cynthia Herrick'', Sir George Alexander as ''John Herrick'', with Rosalie Toller as ''Elsie Herrick''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Open Windows|date=March 1913|journal=The Railway Official Gazette|page=46}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=NEW PLAY BY A.E.W. MASON; "Open Windows" Is Produced in London and Is Well Received|journal=NY Times|date=12 March 1913}}</ref>

[[File:AEW Mason, Vanity Fair, 1908-06-10.jpg|thumb|''Four Feathers''. Caricature by [[Max Beerbohm|Max]] published in ''[[Vanity Fair (UK magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' in 1908.]]

Mason served with the [[Manchester Regiment]] in the [[First World War]], being commissioned [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in the [[21st Battalion, Manchester Regiment|21st Battalion]] in December 1914.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29051|supp=y|page=881|date=27 January 1915}}</ref> In 1915 he transferred to the [[22nd Battalion, Manchester Regiment|22nd Battalion]]<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29130|supp=3|page=3687|date=14 April 1915}}</ref> and then to the [[General List]] (reservists).<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29185|supp=2|page=5496|date=7 June 1915}}</ref> In March 1917 he was granted the temporary rank of major<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29992|supp=6|page=2743|date=19 March 1917}}</ref> and in October he relinquished his Army commission<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=30347|supp=4|page=10875|date=23 October 1917}}</ref> and joined the [[Royal Marine Light Infantry]] with the rank of major.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=30332|page=10505|date=12 October 1917}}</ref> His military career included work in naval intelligence, serving in Spain and [[Mexico]], where he set up [[counter-espionage]] networks on behalf of the British government.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stafford|first1=David|title=The Silent Game: The Real World of Imaginary Spies|date=2013|publisher=Thistle Publishing|isbn=978-1909609174|pages=74–76}}</ref>

Mason turned to non-fiction as well; he wrote a biography of Sir Francis Drake (1941), whose piratical exploits for the Queen figure in ''Fire Over England''. He was working on a non-fiction book about [[Robert Blake (admiral)|Admiral Robert Blake]] when he died in 1948.

Mason had been offered a [[knighthood]] but reportedly declined it, declaring that such honours meant little to a childless man.

== Works ==
{{main|List of works by A. E. W. Mason}}

Mason's prolific output included over 30 novels as well as plays, short stories and articles. Many of his novels were adapted for the screen, several multiples times. During the 1910s and 1920s he worked closely with many film directors of the silent era.

== Inspector Hanaud ==

In 1910, Mason undertook to create a fictional detective as different as possible from [[Sherlock Holmes]], who had recently been resuscitated after his supposed death by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] in 1903. Inspector Gabriel Hanaud was stout, not gaunt like Holmes; a professional policeman, not a gentleman amateur; from the French [[Sûreté]], not Victorian England; and relying on psychological insights rather than physical evidence.<ref>Bargainnier, Earl F. Twelve Englishmen of mystery. Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1984.</ref> His "Watson" is a retired London banker named Mr. Julius Ricardo.

Hanaud's appearance in the 1910 novel ''[[At the Villa Rose (novel)|At The Villa Rose]]'' marks "the first major fiction detective of the Twentieth Century," according to a historian of the genre.{{who|date=November 2015}} Set in the south of France, its plot also ridicules spiritualism and mediums, well-known enthusiasms of A. Conan Doyle.

Four more Hanaud novels and several short stories followed, the last, ''[[The House in Lordship Lane]]'', in 1946 and the only one set in England.

The first Hanaud book was a best-seller, as were several of Mason’s 30 novels, and as such often adapted into films, often more than once. A 1920 version of ''[[At the Villa Rose (1920 film)|At the Villa Rose]]'' was a great success in British movie theatres that year, even as a play version of the novel simultaneously began a long run at the Strand.<ref>History of British Film, vol. 4 1918-1929 by Rachael Low, p. 125</ref> A successful silent version of ''[[The Four Feathers]]'' followed the next year.

The [[At the Villa Rose (1930 film)|first sound version]] of ''At the Villa Rose'' was shot both in English and in French at Twickenham Studios in 1930, making it the first British bi-lingual production, released in America under the name ''The Mystery of the Villa Rose''. This marked the film début of [[Austin Trevor]], an actor from Northern Ireland, in the role of Mr. Ricardo. Trevor would go on to be the first actor to create [[Hercule Poirot]] on the screen. Veteran British director [[Walter Summers]] directed ''[[At the Villa Rose (1940 film)|At the Villa Rose]]'', aka ''House of Mystery'', in 1940.

== Film adaptations ==

{{See also|List of works by A. E. W. Mason#Film and TV adaptations}}

Mason's historical novel ''[[Fire Over England (novel)|Fire Over England]]'' (1936) was set in the [[16th century#1580s|16th century]] as a beleaguered [[Elizabeth I of England]] prepares for invasion by a tyrannical Spain in the throes of the Inquisition. A thinly veiled metaphor for then-neutral Britain's need to prepare for the threat of Nazi invasion, and published while the [[Spanish Civil War]] was raging, the book was adapted for film by the author [[Clemence Dane]] for [[Alexander Korda]], England's leading film producer; Korda was helping [[Winston Churchill]] in his struggle to alert the British people to the military threat of the [[German Reich|Third Reich]].<ref>Charmed Lives (1979) by Michael Korda, p. 130.</ref> The lavish costume drama also made stars of [[Vivien Leigh]] and [[Laurence Olivier]] in their first pairing as lovers onscreen, as they were off-screen.

Korda also produced ''[[The Four Feathers (1939 film)|The Four Feathers]]'' (1939), directed by his brother, [[Zoltan Korda]]. Filmed on location in the desert of Sudan, starring Ralph Richardson and John Clements; its technicolor cinematography was nominated for an Oscar. Released before Britain's entry into [[World War II]], its pro-British theme also features valiant British fighting against hopeless odds, this time in a late 19th century imperial setting.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smyth |first=J. E. |chapter=Three Ages of Imperial Cinema: from the Death of Gordon to ''The Return of the King'' |editor1-last=Bogstad |editor1-first=Janice M. |editor2-last=Kaveny |editor2-first=Philip E. |title=Picturing Tolkien: Essays on Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings' Film Trilogy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNjKrXRP0G8C&pg=PA1 |year=2011 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]] |isbn=978-0-7864-8473-7 |pages=3–12}}</ref>

Zoltan Korda directed a remake, the much less successful ''[[Storm Over the Nile]]'' (1955), starring [[Anthony Steel (actor)|Anthony Steel]]. Other film versions include three earlier silent films, from 1915, 1921 and 1929, a [[The Four Feathers (1978 film)|1978 American television film]] with [[Beau Bridges]] in the lead role, and ''[[The Four Feathers (2002 film)|The Four Feathers]]'' (2002), starring [[Heath Ledger]] and [[Kate Hudson]].

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{Cite book|title=A. E. W. Mason |last1= Green |first1=Roger Lancelyn |publisher=Max Parrish |year=1952 |location=London |author-link=Roger Lancelyn Green}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category}}
;Digital collections
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/a-e-w-mason}}
* {{Gutenberg author |no=1564}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)|name=A. E. W. Mason|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Alfred Edward Woodley Mason}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2117}}
* [http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-a-m.html#mason A E W Mason] at [http://gutenberg.net.au Project Gutenberg Australia]

;Physical collections and biographical information
* [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00928 A. E. W. Mason Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
* [https://www.aewmason.com Comprehensive site on the works of A.E.W. Mason plus biography and film adaptations]

;Other encyclopedias
* {{ISFDB name|name=A. E. W. Mason}}
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-alfred-mason | A. E. W. Mason }}
* {{IMDb name|0556571}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title=Member of Parliament for [[Coventry (UK Parliament constituency)|Coventry]]
| years=[[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]]–[[January 1910 United Kingdom general election|1910]]
| before=[[Charles James Murray|Charles Murray]]
| after=[[Kenneth Foster (Coventry MP)|Kenneth Foster]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{A. E. W. Mason|state=expanded}}
{{The Four Feathers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, A E W}}

A. E. W. Mason - Revision history

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