narrative_location further adventures of doctor syn
Arthur Russell Thorndike ( 6 February 1885 , Rochester , ___MASK27___  7 November 1972 ) was a British actor and novelist , best known for the Doctor Syn of Romney Marsh novels . Less well - known than his sister Sybil but equally versatile , Russell Thorndike ' s first love was writing and , after serving in World War I , he devoted himself to it . The Further Adventures of Doctor Syn is the fourth in the series of Doctor Syn novels by Russell Thorndike . It is a highly episodic series of adventures as Syn , in his guise as the Scarecrow outwits the king ' s agents and keeps his band of Dymchurch smugglers out of prison . The novel inspired the William Buchanan novel Christopher Syn , upon which the Disney film The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh is based , hence the similarities between the plots . Further Adventures of Doctor Syn was published in 1936 . It follows the events of Doctor Syn Returns and is followed by Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn . The Hawkhurst Gang was a notorious criminal organisation involved in smuggling throughout southeast ___MASK90___ from 1735 until 1749 . One of the more infamous gangs of the early 18th century , they extended their influence from Dorset , where they successfully raided the customs house at Poole , to the ___MASK27___ coast . After they were defeated in a battle with the Goudhurst militia in 1747 , two of their leaders , Arthur Gray and Thomas Kingsmill , were executed in 1748 and 1749 . Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of ___MASK27___ and East Sussex in the south - east of England . It covers about . ___MASK27___ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties . It borders Greater London to the north west , Surrey to the west , East Sussex to the south west , and Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north . The county town is Maidstone . ___MASK92___ ( abbreviated Sx ), from the Old English " Sþsaxe " ( South Saxons ), is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of ___MASK92___ . It is bounded to the west by Hampshire , north by Surrey , north - east by ___MASK27___ , south by the English Channel , and divided for local government into West ___MASK92___ and East ___MASK92___ and the city of Brighton and Hove . Brighton and Hove was created as a unitary authority in 1997 , and granted City status in 2000 . Until then , Chichester was ___MASK92___ ' s only city . The Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike . The first book , " Doctor Syn : A Tale of the Romney Marsh " was published in 1915 . The story idea came from smuggling in the 18th century Romney Marsh , where brandy and tobacco were brought in at night by boat from ___MASK43___ to avoid high tax . Minor battles were fought , sometimes at night , between gangs of smugglers , such as the Hawkhurst Gang and the Revenue , supported by the army and local militias in the South , ___MASK27___ and the West , Sussex . A scarecrow or hay - man is a decoy or mannequin in the shape of a human . It is usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops . Sparrows are a family of small passerine birds , Passeridae . They are also known as true sparrows , or Old World sparrows , names also used for a particular genus of the family , " Passer ". They are distinct from both the American sparrows , in the family Emberizidae , and from a few other birds sharing their name , such as the ___MASK23___ sparrow of the family Estrildidae . Many species nest on buildings , and the house and Eurasian tree sparrows in particular inhabit cities in large numbers , so sparrows are among the most familiar of all wild birds . They are primarily seed - eaters , though they also consume small insects . Some species scavenge for food around cities and , like gulls or rock doves , will happily eat virtually anything in small quantities . Dymchurch is a village and civil parish in the Shepway district of ___MASK27___ , England . The village is located on the coast five miles ( 8 km ) south - west of Hythe , and on the Romney Marsh . Shepway is a local government district in ___MASK27___ , England which takes up the south - east corner of the county . Its council is in the town of Folkestone . World War I ( WWI or WW1 ), also known as the First World War , or the Great War , was a global war originating in ___MASK31___ that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918 . More than 70 million military personnel , including 60 million Europeans , were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history . Over nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a result of the war ( including the victims of a number of genocides ), a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents ' technological and industrial sophistication , and the tactical stalemate caused by gruelling trench warfare . It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history , and paved the way for major political changes , including revolutions in many of the nations involved .