Prolific English novelist and short-story writer. Sax Rohmer [Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward] was born Arthur Henry Ward in Birmingham, England, February to Irish immigrant parents William Ward and Margaret Mary (nee Furey). Despite the handicap of no formal schooling until the age of nine or ten, young Arthur dreamt of becoming a writer from an early age. Over the years he adopted various pseudonyms but settled on Sax from the Saxon for �blade� and Rohmer which meant �roamer�. His middle name was adopted based on his alchoholic mother�s extravagant claim to being descended from the th C. Irish general, Patrick Sarsfield.