Gordon Stables

Born in Aberchirder, Banffshire, on May 21, 1840, William Gordon Stables trained in medicine and served as a surgeon in the Royal Navy. Before and during that period, he also gained experience at sea on a whaling voyage, and those years gave his writing a practical, lived-in sense of adventure.

Stables became a remarkably prolific author, publishing well over a hundred books and writing mainly for boys. He is especially associated with Victorian and Edwardian adventure fiction, often signing his work as Dr Gordon Stables, RN, and drawing on his medical background, naval service, and enthusiasm for exploration.

He was also known for his love of animals and travel, and for helping popularize leisure caravanning through his famous horse-drawn caravan, the Wanderer. He died on May 10, 1910, but his stories still offer a vivid window into the energetic, sea-swept world of late nineteenth-century popular fiction.