Born in Scotland, Robert Barr (1849-1912) went with his family to Canada as a small boy and began his career as a journalist. He returned to the UK in the early 1880s and became a well-known figure in literary London, a prolific writer of novels and short stories. In 1892 he was the co-founder, with Jerome K. Jerome, of The Idler. Barr, a friend of Conan Doyle, was also one of the earliest writers to produce a parody of a Sherlock Holmes story.

Born in Scotland, Robert Barr (1849-1912) went with his family to Canada as a small boy and began his career as a journalist. He returned to the UK in the early 1880s and became a well-known figure in literary London, a prolific writer of novels and short stories. In 1892 he was the co-founder, with Jerome K. Jerome, of The Idler. Barr, a friend of Conan Doyle, was also one of the earliest writers to produce a parody of a Sherlock Holmes story.