Ernest Bramah (20 March 186827 June 1942), whose name was recorded after his birth as Ernest Brammah Smith, was an English author. He published 21 books and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works were ranked with Jerome K. Jerome and W. W. Jacobs, his detective stories with Conan Doyle, his politico-science fiction with H. G. Wells and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood. George Orwell acknowledged that Bramah's book What "Might Have Been" influenced his "Nineteen Eighty-Four". Bramah created the characters Kai Lung and Max Carrados.