William Duthie

Born in London to working-class parents, he trained as a goldsmith and later became known as a writer whose books and articles grew directly out of his own life. According to the Dickens Journals Online author profile, he studied at a Mechanics' Institution and later thanked his Latin teacher, John Robson, for helping "poor youths" along the path of learning.

A downturn in the London goldsmith trade led him to Hamburg, and from there he spent years traveling through Europe as a journeyman, carrying his knapsack and working where he could. Those experiences fed into his travel writing for Household Words and later into A Tramp's Wallet, a work closely linked to his wanderings in Germany and France.

He also published the novels Counting the Cost and Proved in the Fire: A Story of the Burning of Hamburg. The same author profile notes that he had literary connections with Charles Dickens and W. H. Wills, and that Dickens encouraged some of his work for the periodical press.